Two Brits, a Pinch of Luck, and Everything Mummy
by E.M.Bryant97
Summary: British teens Michelle and Elizabeth are the biggest Mummy fans in the world. When Anubis grants their wish to travel back in time, they get the Mummy adventure of a lifetime. But when they clash the modern world with the O'Connell's, a new kind of evil is unleashed.
1. My Sister Gets Me Drenched

**CHAPTER 1**

"_Having an encounter with a three thousand year old walking, talking corpse does tend to convert one!"_

_ -The Mummy_

The rain pricked my back like stingers on the slippery sidewalk. It was raining, again. For the past few weeks, all we ever got here in London was rain. Kind of typical for the middle of April, I think. My name is Michelle, and I live here, in boring old London, and I'm 14 years old. I live with my parents, who are always buried in their work, my little sister Kathy, and, of course, my best friend Elizabeth. We do and always have done everything together. She's like a sister to me. I sometimes wish my life could be adventurous, with action at every turn. Instead, I'm stuck running in the cold rain, having been sent to retrieve my sister from dance lessons. I couldn't wait to get back home, where I could finally get some peace and quiet. I promised Elizabeth I would meet her at her house at approximately 5:30, where we would watch our all time favorite movie, the Mummy Returns. We've been watching it since out first came out, almost ten years ago. We absolutely love that movie, the action, the humor, the romance, everything. Sometimes we wish we could live their lives, their perfect, adventurous lives. Anything beats my bland lifestyle. I was running so fast, almost forgot about everything. My history test, cleaning my room, washing the dishes….

"Hey Mrs. Wilding, I'm just here for Kathy." I gasped, letting out the last of my heavy breathing. She opened the door, letting the warm air touch my face. "Come on in Michelle, we're almost through with the lesson."

I walked in slowly, taking off my drenched jacket. Kathy was in her colorful jazz skirt, swishing it around playfully. For a ten year old girl, she could dance great. Most of the others her age were just learning the simple jumps; she was leaping across the sky, as gracefully as a swan. I never told anyone this, but I admired Kathy's ability to meet new people. She and I are like complete opposites; I like the Mummy, she thinks it's too scary. I listen to country, she loves rock. She can dance, and I couldn't if it killed me. It was these differences, though, that brought us together.

I watched her, and began to loose track of time. She came, bounding over to me about twenty minutes later, panting heavily like a dog, even though she was still smiling. "Can we go now?" I asked, trying to hide my impatience. "I guess, is it still raining?" she sighed.

"Yes, that's the fun of it!" I laughed.

"I don't want to get wet!" she snapped.

"Too bad." I muttered, swinging open the door. I just wanted to get home before the movie started. Kathy reluctantly pulled her jacket over her outfit. I grabbed her hand, and took off down the middle of the street.


	2. I Dream of a Miracle

**CHAPTER 2**

"_You, lighten up. You, BIG trouble. You, get in the car."_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

My mother opened the door immediately after the sound of the doorbell. She frowned when she saw my sister and I wet from head to toe. "I told you to take a cab Michelle!" she sighed, pushing us into the house.

"That would take too long!" I argued with her.

"Whatever just go get some dry clothes on before your friend comes over."

"Long day at work mom?" Kathy giggled.

"You have no idea," she smiled. I could tell she'd been up since daybreak for her new job. "What's for dinner?" I asked, walking towards my room.

"You'll find out once I think of something." she said sarcastically.

I closed my door, and got into some comfy sweats. Another difference between me and Kathy, she's crazy about clothes, and I'm absolutely not.

I heard the doorbell ring twice, Elizabeth's signal for when she was going to sleep over. I grabbed the two DVDs lying on my night table and ran out. Before I could reach the door, Kathy strode in front of me and opened the door. My best friend was standing there, with her pillow under her arm and excitement bubbling inside of her. "You ready?" I smiled, equally exited. "Who wouldn't be?" she laughed, laying her bed stuff down in front of the TV. "First or second?" she said.

"What do you think? We can stay up all night!" I laughed.

"Must you always watch those movies?" my mother sighed.

"Yes, of course!" we both laughed, turning it on.

"I don't think I can sit through it AGAIN!" my sister grumbled, taking my mothers side. "Come with me Kathy, we can leave the girls alone for the night." she said, taking her hand. "There are noodles on the stove!" she called from her room.

We weren't listening, though. I pressed 'play' on the remote and sat back on the couch. The light outside disappeared, making the room grow darker and darker by the minute. But when you're watching a movie like the Mummy, nothing can distract you. "Go Rick! Save her!" we shouted at the screen. My mother eventually grew tired of screaming at us to stop, and get earplugs for her and my sister.

Elizabeth sleeping over at one of our get together was a weekly thing. It was watching the Mummy and the Mummy Returns that was only a once a month thing for us. Our mothers made that rule after three weeks of straight mummy, every day. Elizabeth and I loved it. We could watch those movies every day, and not get tired of it.

"Alex is soooo adorable, isn't he?" I cooed, once we began the sequel. "I know, right?" Elizabeth sighed, watching the movie intently. It was now two twenty five, but neither of us showed any signs of sleepiness. "Don't open the chest, Evy!" I said, leaning closer. The suspense was hanging in the air, and even though we knew what was going to happen, our eyes widened. We forgot the volume was on high as the water flooded the hallways. "Run!" we both shouted, flinging our arms in the air.

"Quiet down!" Kathy yelled, trying to get some sleep.

Two more wondrous hours passed before the credits popped onto the screen. I couldn't keep my eyes from dropping. "What time is it?" Elizabeth groaned, flopping over on her sleeping bag. "It's almost five." I replied. Only an hour away from my mother waking up. "I don't know if I can stay awake." she said, face buried in her pillow.

"Wake up... Or else I'll make you watch the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor..." I taunted. Elizabeth jerked her head up instantly. "No! Please! I'll be good!"

"Okay, no torturing you today." I grinned. The one thing we absolutely hated. The third installment of the Mummy franchise. After seeing that movie all the way through for the first time, I thought I was going to be sick. "Who does she think she is?" I demanded, yelling at the movie theater screen. "Maria Bello?" I spit the name out like it was a cursed word at the opening night of the movie. Let's just say Elizabeth and I won't ever be seeing that one again. But that was three years ago.

I sat there silently next to Elizabeth, wondering what to do with my life. 'Oh, sure! Someday you'll meet the cast of the movie!' I thought. I realized a few years ago that that will most likely never happen. Nothing like that would happen to an ordinary girl like me. All I had to live for was remembering to finish my homework before Monday morning. Life will always be the same, wake up, go to school, dream, and repeat. If only Elizabeth and I had a super cool life like they did, that's the only thing I ever wanted. My sister would wake up in a few hours, same with my mom. Dad was off at a business trip, much to my displeasure. He seems to be the only one I can ever really talk to in my family.

I would get up and brush my teeth, and life would continue like it usually did.

I continued to wonder in my head all these things, over and over again. I just wish for a miracle, just once...


	3. We Get the Shock of our Lives

**CHAPTER 3**

"_I haven't lost it, I just can't find it! There's a difference!"_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

"Michelle! Do you hear that?" Elizabeth whispered, looking at the window. The sun was on the brink of rising, still leaving dark spots in the sky. "Hear what?" I sighed. Then I heard it.

A low, soft voice that was coming from nowhere. It was too soft to hear what it was saying, or if it was English.

I smirked at my friend. "Yes. The God Anubis is speaking to us."

"Shut up! This is serious!" she snapped.

"It's too early..." I yawned, turning around.

"Should we get your mom?"

"She wouldn't believe us." I said, "Besides, it's probably nothing!"

Something inside me told me otherwise. I put my arm around her shoulder, and pulled the blankets over our legs. "Nothing... It's nothing." I reassured her.

What seemed like days later, the voices stopped? Then, everything turned black. I couldn't remember what actually happened then, only that it was the strangest thing I've ever encountered. I thought I must've been dreaming or something. The funny thing is, I don't recall ever falling asleep early that morning.

A blast of sunlight shook us, making everything seem white at first. I wasn't aware of what was happening, for I was still in shock from the sudden change of everything. Elizabeth seemed unable to move as well, looking way more frightened than I. I grabbed her hand, and looked around at our surroundings. It looked a lot like our city, just people we've never seen before. Their clothing seemed different, like no one was wearing anything new. "See the lake over there?" I pointed, "That's the exact same one a couple blocks from your house."

Elizabeth didn't seem like she was listening to me. She was staring at a dark blue Chevrolet that pulled up across the street. "Hey!" I said, "That looks a lot like-" I stopped in the middle of my own sentence. Second movie, broken key. "no." she whispered.

I couldn't let fear overtake me. I took Elizabeth's hand in mine, and crossed the street. A woman, no older than thirty, opened the car door; her wavy hair blew around in the London wind. I slowed my pace, not knowing what to do. Before me or Elizabeth knew what was happening, we were right in front of her car. The woman looked up, and smiled. "Hi girls. Interesting clothes you're wearing!"

I couldn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. Elizabeth stifled a hello, and I waved slightly. I shook myself out of my shock, and began with the questions. "Do you know what time it is?" I said, shaky at first.

The woman peered down at her watch, and replied, "Almost noon."

"That's weird," Elizabeth muttered, turning on her iPhone, "my clock says it's still six A.M."

"What's that?" the woman gasped, looking strangely at the object.

"My phone." Elizabeth said, turning it off quickly.

"That's silly! They don't make phones that small!" she laughed.

I glanced at Elizabeth, and shrugged. "What year is it?" I asked.

"1932, of course!"

I froze. 1932, blue car, no cell phones... Then it all made sense. I realized who I was really talking to. Could this be a joke? I just had to find out.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked, looking back at her watch.

"Oh, I'm fine. You just remind me of someone I know from a movie."

"Which one? Maybe I know her."

"Believe me, you wouldn't know." Elizabeth laughed.

"Forgive me," I started, asking the question that could change everything, "but are you Evelyn O'Connell?"

She stared at me, and then thought for a moment. "Yes, but how did you know that?"

Elizabeth gaped at me. We were actually talking to Evelyn O'Connell. I couldn't help myself; I started to go crazy. "You're- you're- Rachel- I mean Evelyn!" we both shouted, attracting a crowd. "You were in the first movie, you defeated Imhotep, and you saved the day! You met Rick-"

"Rick?" she whispered, "how could you know all that?"

"Because... Because..." I couldn't tell her about the movie, she wouldn't believe us. "I know everything about you!" Elizabeth said, smiling from ear to ear. "You're married to Rick, have a son named Alex, you have an annoying brother named Jonathan, and you live in a big house here in London!" she finished, taking a big breath.

I don't think poor Evelyn had anything to say to that. I think we were starting to freak her out.

"Well..." she stuttered, "I've got to pick up Alex from baseball practice, so... bye" she said quickly, getting back into her car. "Wait!" I said, going to the window. "Can we just start over?" I looked at her with the saddest smile I could do. "Look. I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but you should probably go find someone else to obsess over, not me!" she laughed uncertainly.

"I tried Brendan Fraser, but you're so much better than him." Elizabeth said, quieting down once she realized what she was saying.

"I know you're a smart person, so can you just listen to us?" I said softly.

Evy sighed, and then reluctantly unlocked the doors. "Hop in the back." she sighed. 'What am I doing?' she wondered.

"Where do you guys live, I can drop you off back to your parents." she said, turning on the gas engine. "Look... We're not from here." I said, looking at Elizabeth for help. "What she means to say is... I was born on December twenty second... 1995." she hesitated.

"What? That's impossible!" Evy said.

"No, it's not." I came to my friend's aid.

I pulled out my own iPhone, and turned it on. "This is made in the 21st century." I pointed out the date on the back of the phone. 2011 was printed in small letters on the bottom. "That's not possible." she muttered, looking back at us. "How did you get here?" she asked.

"Well, we finished watching the Mummy Returns, then-"

"What my friend here means to say is that we were watching movies, them a voice came up out of nowhere, and them we met you." I covered. "Wait a minute. You haven't been on your trip to Egypt yet, have you?" I had to make sure.

"Actually, we were going to leave next week."

"Well, I think the god Anubis sent us here." I said, seeing her immediate reaction. "You know about Egypt?"

"More than you know." Elizabeth muttered. Evelyn sat back down in her seat. "You two really are from the future."

"Yup, that's about it." I shrugged.

"Then you won't mind coming with me to pick up my son?"

"Alex?" we both gasped, "I'd die to meet him! He's the cutest eight –year -old I've ever seen!"

"I'm still not over the fact that you know everything about Me." she smiled, "my brain is still processing."

"So... Where's Rick?" I asked, once we were headed down the road. "It's his first day at his new job." she grinned.

"Let me know how that works out." Elizabeth laughed, "what about Jonathan?"

"Oh, I think he's on a date with this showgirl he met last Tuesday."

"You mean your brother is dating Sheila?" I laughed.

"Yea, shocking isn't it?" she shook her head.

Things went quiet for a minute, the first break I've gotten since we arrived. I leaned forward, aching to say one more thing. "Let me tell you something, Evy. If you husband ever wants you to go to China with him, say no."

"Why?"

"Just say no!"


	4. Alex Hits a Home Run

**CHAPTER 4**

"_I haven't done anything to anybody…... lately!"_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

"Well, here we are." Evelyn sighed, opening up the door for us. We finally arrived at the baseball field. I climbed out, and scanned the area, looking for Alex. He was standing up behind the pitcher, bat in hand. "Common," Evy said, taking my hand. We headed off towards the benches, still looking at Alex. The baseball cracked against the bat, sending it high in the air. Alex took off running, aiming for a home run. "He's sure been practicing a lot!" Evy laughed, sitting down. I started for the spot next to her, but Elizabeth stopped me. "I wanna turn sitting with her!" she folded her arms.

"Too bad, I already called it!" I grinned.

"Not fair!"

"Okay, look!" Evelyn said, putting her arms in between us. "I'm not a celebrity or anything!"

"Oh yes, you are!" we both said.

Instead of causing a scene, Evy scooted over, so the both of us could really sat we've sat next to an actress.

"They must be running late!" she sighed, getting a book out of her purse. "Kings and Queens of ancient Egypt".

"I really think you'll enjoy the story about Nefertiti." I suggested, "It seems you two have a lot in common!" I tried to hide my giggles with my hand.

Alex came running up to his mother, tossing his bat at her. "Hello to you to!" she smirked, trying to get him to hug her. "Mom!" he snapped, and then turned to us. "Who are they?"

"Alex!" we shouted, throwing our arms around the boy.

"What the heck?" he struggled. "They're friends I picked up." Evy sighed.

"Help me!" he mouthed.

I pulled out my phone, and pulled up a picture of him from the second movie. Alex stared at his reflection, and then turned to his mom. "Did I forget to mention that they're from the future?" she smiled. "Before you get weirded out, they apparently know everything about us."

"Really?" Alex lifted an eyebrow. "Do you have any cool things in the future?"

"Cool things?" Elizabeth glanced at me, "how about Zombie Eaters seven in 3D?"

Alex's eyes widened, and then hugged us both. "Take me with you!" he cried, probably the beat day of his life. Two girls from the future appearing out of nowhere, willing to hug him, and stay at his house.

"Let's get home before your dad does." Evy said, giving Alex a silent laugh


	5. Evy Gets a Knack for Prank Calling

**CHPATER 5**

"_By putting this on, you have started a chain reaction that could bring about the next apocalypse!"_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

Elizabeth and I stood, staring at the magnificent house in front of us. "It's WAY bigger up close." she stammered, holding my hand. Alex opened the door, revealing all the amazing props from the movie. "It's just like I remember it!" I smiled, eyeing the bookshelves that lined the house. "Tell me, did you really use the treasure your friend Benny stole from Hamanamptra?" I asked.

"Yes, that and the-"

"-five hundred dollars from the bet you won against Burns and the other Americans?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"Wow mom! They know more about you than I do!" Alex laughed.

"Make yourselves comfortable." Evy sighed, "it's not much, but its home."

"Not much?" I laughed, "This is amazing!"

Alex went to the kitchen, and opened up the fridge. "How come there's no food!" he yelled.

"Sorry, I was going to the grocery store before I met them." she said, gesturing to us. "Oops." Elizabeth whispered. I heard my stomach growl, and then searched my bag for food. I eventually pulled out a half empty Dr. Pepper bottle, and poured some into a glass for Elizabeth. "Oh thank you! I'm thirsty!" she sighed, drinking it down.

"What's that?" Evy and Alex both said equally parched.

"You guys don't have soda in your time?" I gasped. Soda and Mummies were about the only things that gave me joy in my life. "No," she replied. "How can you sleep at night?" I muttered, dividing up the last of my drink. They slurped it down as soon as the glass touched the counter. "It's got caffeine in it, and caffeine gives you pep." Elizabeth grinned.

"Where has this been all my life?" Evy muttered, seeing her cup completely empty.

Lady Gaga's Poker Face came on, meaning that I had a call. "Sorry." I said, answering my phone. "Hello? Mom! It's you!" I gasped.

"Where the hecks are you and Elizabeth?" my mother demanded, "it's almost supper time!"

"I know, we're just over at a friend's house." I winged it.

"Well, come home!"

"My friend invited us to spend the night!" I laughed.

"I haven't talked to whatever friend's mother you're talking about."

"Well, here's my friends mom right now!" I smiled, handing the phone to Evy. She looked at me like I was crazy. Elizabeth took the phone, and put it to Evy's ear. "Just talk." I whispered.

"Um... Hello?" she said, not really knowing what she was doing.

"So Michelle tells me you want her and Elizabeth to sleep over." my mom said.

"Yes, that's it!" Evy grinned, getting the hang of it. "So, your daughter goes to her school."

"Yes, my daughter does go to Michelle's school!" Evy was beginning to run out of ideas. "Okay, what's her name?"

Evy looked at us desperately.

"Sarah." I suggested.

"Anne!" Elizabeth said, maybe a little too loudly.

"Did you say Anne?"

"Yes! Anne is my daughter's name, my daughter Anne." she blew a sigh of relief. "So can she be back by noon tomorrow?" my mother asked.

Noon? Not enough time to spend with the best people in the world. I flung my arms around, and then whispered, "More time!"

"Actually, my husband owns a cabin down at the lake, and we were going to spend two..." she began. I shook my head, and held up three fingers. "I mean three days there!" she gave me an evil look. "Well..." my mother thought about it for a moment. "Okay, I'll call Elizabeth's mother."

I gave Elizabeth a high five. "What was your name again?"

"Evelyn." she said.

"If your last name was O'Connell I swear my daughter would freak!" she laughed. "Oh I know!" she smirked at me.

"Well, I've got to get back to cleaning, so tell Michelle I can't wait for her to come back."

"Okay, we're going to have so much fun!" she gave the iPhone back to me.

"I didn't know you were so good at that!" Elizabeth grinned.

"Thank you!" I sighed, hugging her.

"I spent all my life covering for people, it's in my blood." she shrugged.

"Jonathan?" we both smiled at each other.

"When can we meet him?" Elizabeth gasped, "He's the funniest one in the whole movie!"

"So I'm not funny in this 'second movie?'" Evy said, looking disappointed.

"No, it's not that! It's just you're hilarious in the first movie, and in the second one, you're really violent!" I tried to make her feel better. "I mean, you beat up Anack- Su- namun like a punching bag!" Elizabeth stepped in.

"What?" Evy looked confused.

I pegged Elizabeth in the arm. I texted her quickly, no talking about movie #2! "Why are she and I going to fight? I can't fight!"

"Oh, you'll be surprised what you can do." I smiled. "It's not like you two are related from the past or anything."

"What?"

"Nothing!"


	6. Nose Stabbing and Some Family Bonding

**CHAPTER 6**

"_With your death, Anuck- Suna- Moon shall live, and I shall be invincible!"_

_-The Mummy_

Rick fumbled with his keys, and swore as his finger got cut. "I need a pick- me- up," he grumbled, pushing the door open.

"Oh, Rick! How was your day?" Evy sighed; happy he was backing home again. She gasped when she saw his face. He had one black eye, a swollen cheek, and a bloody eyebrow. "What the heck happened to you?" she stared, wide eyed at his injuries.

"I was mauled by three women at the Bart's Burger Barn drive through." he sighed.

"Why?"

"They claimed I didn't put the straw in the bag." he mumbled. Rick seemed to be unsteady on his feet, like he got hit by a bus coming home. "Okay sweetie, no more working at fast food places for you!" Evy laughed, getting some ice for his forehead. "Hey, I don't remember having two more kids!" he said, looking at the both of us.

"No Rick, they're my twin sisters!" she laughed sarcastically. "That was a joke!" she said to us. Our smiles faded away into disappointment. "they're from the future, have tiny phones, drink Dr. Pepper, you have to try some, love all of us to death, so much that they memorize what we said ten years ago with Imhotep." she stopped to take a breath. "That's nice honey." Rick mumbled, "How did Alex do at baseball practice?"

"Don't change the subject!" Evy snapped.

"Okay fine, so they're weirdos that know we're mummy hunters, so what?"

"We have to get them back to the future!"

"Why is there no food in the kitchen?"

"You two are hopeless." Evy muttered to Alex.

"Tell us more about the future!" Alex said, trying to get his father interested. "Well, London now is way more high tech than it is now!" I began, looking around. "When we find a way out of here, you have to visit us and see for yourself!"

"We can go shopping!" Elizabeth added, liking the idea very much.

"So tell us about this so called movie we're in." Evy said, aching to know.

I looked at Elizabeth for answers. "Well, people wrote this story, about this girl, no older than twenty, who's a librarian. She meets an adventurer, and, along with her brother, brings back to life a mummy, save the day, and fall in love."

Evy glanced at Rick. "It's true!" Elizabeth said, seeing their optimism.

"So, you're telling us that we're not real?" Evy finally said.

"No! It's not that at all!" I said, trying to keep things under control. "People get actors to play your part, and eventually make a movie out of it!" I sighed. "You're real people, believe me." I said. I might be lying just a little bit, but what was I supposed to do? Say they're just a made up story?

"So, what actor plays me?" Evy asked eagerly.

"She's way after your time." Elizabeth said, "But if you really want to know, it's Rachel Weisz."

"Rachel Weisz?" Evy said, "I'm better than her though, right?" she winced.

"Of course!" we both assured.

"And me?" Rick smiled.

"Brendan Fraser." I smiled, "from Journey to the Center of the Earth, Inkheart, and Furry Vengeance!" I laughed.

"What about me?" Alex said.

"Ah, Freddie Boath." I sighed, "The cutest boy in the world."

"So that makes me the cutest boy in the world?" Alex said, happy where this was going. "Apparently so." Elizabeth hugged him.

Just then, a familiar figure came through the door. "Jonathan!" I cried, running to his side. "I love you! I love you!" I hugged him tightly.

"Now that's what I like to hear from women!" he smiled, "but, may I ask, who are you?"

"I'm Michelle, and this is my BFF Elizabeth." I brought her to my side.

"Okay... And what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well we're from the future, where I think you'll find woman way more appealing!" I laughed.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Take me with you! Please take me with you!" he shouted, wanting that more than anything else. "Give the girls a break!" Evy said, pulling him off us.

"You're late, again!" she snapped at her brother.

"Well sorry! Who put you in charge?"

I smiled at their bickering. "You two are way funnier than I thought!"

"I think you're the funniest person in the world, especially when you defeated Imhotep!" Elizabeth said.

"Wha-?"

"They know everything about us." Evy sighed, having been through this three times already.

"Oh yah?" Jonathan smirked, thinking again, that it was a load of pig-swallow. I cleared my throat, stood up in front of everyone, taking Elizabeth with me. "Ready?" I whispered.

She immediately knew what I was doing. Out favorite scene from the Mummy. She nodded slowly.

I turned to face her. "So let me get this straight; they rip out your guts and put them in jars."

"And they take out your heart as well. Oh! Do you know how they took out your brains?"

Evy started laughing. Our voices were hilarious. "Evy, I don't think we need to know this!"

"They take a sharp, red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things around a bit, then rip it all out through your nostrils."

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt!"

"It's called mummification; you'll be dead when they do this."

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification."

"Likewise!"

We took our bows, and then turned back to Jonathan. "Okay, I'm convinced." he sighed.


	7. Elizabeth's First Kiss

**CHAPTER 7**

"_If you give me that gold stick there, you can shave my head, wax my legs, and use me for a surf board!"_

_-The Mummy Returns_

Evy went to a closet, and took out two quilts. "You two can sleep in this room, just make sure you close the window is closed." she sighed, ready for some sleep herself. I looked at my phone clock, subtracted about six hours, and realized it was already one o'clock in the morning. "Thanks." Elizabeth put a hand on her shoulder. "For everything."

"Yah, you really didn't need to take us in you know." I added.

"Any guest is a happy guest, I suppose. Especially when the guest knows every little thing about you!"

"How's Rick going to be?" I asked.

"Oh, he'll be fine!" Evy laughed, "He's a tough guy."

Evy shut the door, leaving us completely alone for the night. I didn't really feel like sleeping, but I lay down on the comfy bed anyway. "Michelle?" Elizabeth whispered, once the final light we could see turned off. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know, maybe one of us will have one of those dreams that gives us the answers!"

"Good idea, that always happens in the movies!"

"But why go? This is our dream life, isn't it?" I said.

"Because I left my phone charger at my house, and it's almost dead!"

"Good point, I couldn't leave my sister anyway." I sighed.

"But this sure is a great place to visit every once in a while!"

"Sure is." I drifted off to sleep, hoping we would still be there tomorrow, and not back at my house, where I would be grounded for life.

Jonathan snuck into the guest room, and stared hard at Elizabeth. She pretty much summed up his ideal girl. Except for the fact that she was only sixteen, and lived in the future. He sighed, and turned to Michelle. She was cute, muscular, and a little violent- looking, just like his sister. But, she just wasn't his type. Elizabeth rolled over, and sighed happily. "Of course I'll marry you!" she breathed. Jonathan, being the idiot he was, thought that Elizabeth was talking about him. He gathered up all the courage he had (which wasn't much), kissed her.

"Jonathan!" his sister hissed, opening the door. "I will not have you harass our guests like this!" she had seen him enter the room ten minutes ago, and knew there was trouble.

Elizabeth woke up with a start, saw a thirty year old creep kissing her, and yelped. "What the heck?" she panted, starting to hyperventilate. "By me saying I like you, I didn't mean I want to marry you!" she screamed.

"I'm- I'm sorry! I thought you said you wanted to marry me!" Jonathan said defensively. "No... I meant..." she began. Elizabeth couldn't reveal her one true love to these people. "Jonny Depp." she muttered. Jonathan nodded sadly, and started to walk out. Elizabeth reached out, and grabbed his jacket. "I mean, well, I'm dating someone already, and he's MY age!"

Jonathan sighed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "I think you should get back to sleep Jonathan." she sighed.

"Yah, I'm, just, going, to... Leave now." he muttered, walking towards the door. "I'm really, really sorry about my brother's behavior." she said.

"Oh, I'm fine, just great!" Elizabeth smiled.

"Really am sorry! I mean Jonathan, kissing you?" she laughed, "that's the most disgusting thing in the whole world!"

Elizabeth's eyes widened and Evy wished she hadn't said anything at all. "I'm going to pretend the last thirty seconds of my life never happened." she said, reaching for the door. "Hope you don't have any nightmares!" she whispered on her way out.


	8. Rick Enjoys Some Scrambled Eggs

**CHAPTER 8**

"_You know, if you move that fast enough, you can almost write your name!"_

_-The Mummy Returns_

We both arose, bright and early, eager to have another wondrous day with the O'Connell's. I looked around the room, and sighed with relief. "We're still here!"

Elizabeth was already dressed by the time I got out of bed. "What shall we do today, best friend?" she smiled.

"I'm guessing you're over the whole Jonathan thing, huh?"

"Don't talk about it." she sighed. "I'm trying to forget so we can have the best three days of our lives!"

"Good point." I agreed. Elizabeth opened the bedroom door, and entered the kitchen. Evy was up, dressed, and reading the newspaper while sipping her coffee. "Doesn't surprise me." I whispered to Elizabeth. "How did you two sleep last night?" she asked when she saw us standing there. "And the whole-"

"-trying to forget it!"

"Right, well, I'm going to make some eggs now." she said, putting her mug down on the table. We both sat down, and stared at the magazine. 'Headline: German soldiers invade Poland. Churchill readying his troops.' I looked up. "World War II?"

"Yes, sad isn't it? Nazis blaming the Jews for everything. It's nuts I tell you!" Evy said.

"Meeting you guys, I almost forgot about the war!" Elizabeth sighed.

"We just pray they don't bomb us any time soon." Evy muttered.

I looked at Elizabeth, terrified about the whole bombing idea. "Oh don't worry, even if we do get bombed, we won't get injured or anything! I hope..."

"You hope?" Elizabeth winced.

"Oh, forget the bombing already!" I smiled, "what are we going to do today?"

Evy put the breakfast onto the table, and helped herself with some. "Well, I did promise Alex that I'd take him to the British Museum a while ago." she said through a mouthful of eggs. "Once they bother to get up, I mean."

Elizabeth looked horrified at the idea of going to a Museum. Especially a British museum. "What? You don't like museums?" Evy laughed.

"No, it's just that... The people there really aren't that friendly." I said, thinking about the Curator, all the scary exhibits that would come alive, our friend almost getting thrown into a fire. And by friendly, I meant people that could kill you with a machine gun at any moment's time.

"Well I love museums." Evy grinned. I glanced at Elizabeth.

"Cant wait!" we both smiled.

"Now what are you three doing making plans without me?" Rick smiled. "It's like having three times your usual trouble, Evy!"

She grinned, and dished up some food. "Made it just in time Rick!"

"For what, I might ask?" he asked, eyeing the eggs like it was pure gold.

"The two of you are exactly the same!" I laughed.

"Well, I was telling Michelle and Elizabeth about going to the museum." Evy smiled, not having his full attention. "Rick?" she waved her hand over his face. He was still gazing at his breakfast. "Or maybe we can stop at the donut shop on the way..." Elizabeth muttered. Rick got up immediately, and grabbed the keys. "Common, we don't have all day!" he said impatiently, taking Evy's plate to the sink. "Wow, hungry much?" Evy muttered. "I'm warming up to then already!" Rick laughed, opening the car door. "Rick, this would be a good time to remind you that you have a son!" Evy laughed. Rick sighed, and re-opened the door. "Be right back." he mumbled.

Elizabeth and I sat in the back, taking a deep breath. "Wow." I managed to say. "The boy is crazy about his breakfast food, but we love him anyway." Evy grinned.

"That was not what I had in mind when I think of a brave, muscular, Medjai." I smiled.

"He's had too much free time lately." she muttered before unlocking the doors for Alex and Rick. "Donut shop, here we come!" Rick yelled out the window as they backed up out of the driveway.

"What about Jonathan?" Elizabeth said, once we got on the main road. "He sleeps, eats, shines his jewels, then eats more, then goes back to sleep, then repeats the cycle again. Museums aren't on that list." Evy smiled.

"Going to see dead people AND get donuts? Best day ever!" Alex shouted.

"Like father, like son." I muttered to Elizabeth.


	9. We Visit the Museum of Horrors

**CHAPTER 9**

"_My lord! Save me! Save me!"_

"_Why?"_

_ -The Mummy Returns _

Alex opened the door before the car came to a complete stop. "Wait up!" Evy called after him. He kept on running until he came to the front doors. "He just loves museums!" Rick grinned.

"Oh, he spends more time here then he does a home!" I laughed.

Evy and Rick turned their heads around and stares blankly at me. "Just a guess." I muttered.

"I suggest we go in now!" Elizabeth said, breaking me out of one of my awkward moments. "I'm going with donut girl!" Rick agreed, getting out of the car.

"You do know he'll be calling you that until you leave, right?" Evy sighed.

"I'm hanging out with the O'Connell's! He can call me whatever he wants!" she laughed. "Donut girl is way better than being stuck with Evy from the day you were born." Evy muttered.

"So you want to be called cream puff lady?" Elizabeth smiled.

"Evy suddenly sounds like a joy to me." Evelyn sighed.

"Weren't we going to get out?" I lost sight of the two boys.

"Yes, right, well, getting out now!" she pushed open the door. When we finally caught up to Alex and Rick, they were standing by the Egyptian artifacts. "Isn't there anything else in this museum besides mummies?" I said uneasily, making sure I didn't get too close to their cases. "I thought you two said you liked Egypt!" Alex said, reading the descriptions by a mummy. "Well, I love mummies!" I said defensively, "and it's not like these guys will come to life anytime soon!"

"I think somebody is low on their pep drink." Alex whispered to Rick.

"Be nice to them. The blond one gave my donuts; she'll be forever engraved in my memory." Rick laughed.

"I don't get men!" Evy whispered to us.

"Ah, I see you have interest in our Egyptian exhibit." a voice from begins us said. We whirled around to see a familiar old man approaching us slowly

When I saw his face clearly, I grabbed Elizabeth's hand in mine. "Are you the person in charge around here?" Rick asked, shaking his hand. The curator, second movie. The bloody idiot that betrayed the good side for evil. The man who helped raise Imhotep from the dead, again. But, the O'Connell's didn't know this useful piece of information. I narrowed my eyes at his sight. I could tell his smile was completely fake, like he was struggling to keep the act going. In only a few days, he would have kidnapped Evy and attempted to kill her. Right now, she was smiling at him like she just met a good friend. "Is everything alright?" the curator turned to us.

"Oh, everything's just peachy." I said through clenched teeth. "So, how is it running a museum?" Evy asked.

"I think it's wonderful to have the world wrapped up in one building!" he replied.

"Yah, it's probably _handy_ to have some help around the place!" Elizabeth kept a straight face. I smiled as I envisioned the dumb old Curator getting ripped apart by a mutant scorpion. Rick looked at us strangely. "Sorry, it's an inside joke."

"I see," the Curator said quietly, "let me know if you have any trouble."

"You'll be the first to know!" I forced myself to smile.

'Got to _hand_ it to you, I didn't think you could get that far!' I thought.

The Curator started up the stairs, once we were out of sight. He signaled to two to his employees, and muttered something to them softly, so no one else could hear. "Those girls seem different. I want you to keep a close eye on them. It seems they know something we don't."

The five of us spent hours at that British museum. It actually turned out to be really fun. Alex took Elizabeth and I to the fossilized animal exhibits, which were pretty awesome to see. I think Evy and Rick had some catching up to do, ever since we arrived they never had time to themselves. I missed hearing Jonathan's nutty jokes, though. I wondered what he was doing right at that moment; probably draining down the rest of their little food supply. I knew Elizabeth was thinking the exact same thing. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two men. I've never seen them around the museum until now. And I didn't like the looks of them. Elizabeth must've seen them too, for she was jumpy all of a sudden. "What's up with you?" Alex asked when he saw her facial expression. "nothing." she muttered. I dared to look back behind me. They were gone, out of sight. I blew a sigh of relief, and then my friend touched my arm tightly. They were now not only still there, but walking towards us. "What do you want with us?" I managed to say, starting to back up. "I just noticed your clothes, they seem to different." the man said, in a really low voice.

I had to think of something fast. "I'm not from here."

"What to you mean by that?"

"Me and my friend are from the United States." I lied. I've only been to that country once, and that was for my aunts wedding. I was getting better and better at lying on the spot. The man smirked. "Your perfect British accent tells me otherwise."

"My parents are from here." at least that was true.

The man looked at me suspiciously, and walked off. Elizabeth went over to me, her face pale. "What do they want with us?"

"I really don't know, but I don't like it." I said. "Do you think the Curator is up to this?" Elizabeth asked.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Why were those creeps talking to you two?" Alex said, running over to us.

"We don't know, but I'm thinking we should get out of here!" I said.

"Knowing my parents previous experiences with trouble, you're probably right!" Alex smiled.

"Where did your parents go off to?" Elizabeth asked. "how am I supposed to know?" Alex shrugged. "But between you and me, sometimes when we go to the movies, they sit in the back row so they can 'cuddle'. Its disgusting." he shuddered.

"Okay... Well, that really doesn't help us here." I sighed.

"Let's check all the historical exhibits!" Elizabeth suggested. "or maybe that nice Curator guy can help us!" alex smiled. "I like donut girls plan a whole lot better!" I said.

Sure enough, all it took was a moment's walk around the corner to find Evy totally immersed in the Greek mythology area. "Um, hey, here's an idea! How about we get out of here and go for some Chinese?" I said.

"But why? We just got here!" she looked really confused. "In the future, we go to a museum for a half hour, and then run out and do something else." Elizabeth panted, having run the whole way there. Evy eyed her son suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Why does every one point their fingers at me?" Alex looked betrayed.

"You two!" the Curator and the same two men came towards us. "Did I mention they want something from us?" I whispered.

"No, you must've forgotten about that." Evy scowled. "remember, where from America." Elizabeth added.

"America?"

"Are these your kids?" the Curator looked at us suspiciously. "No, see there parents live in Chicago, and they're visiting us for a few days." Evy didn't put a lot of enthusiasm in that statement. "This one said her parents are from London." the man on the right of the old man said. "Right well, they recently moved there." I added.

"Nice save." Alex muttered.

"Well, we should be going, it sure is late!" Evy smiled.

"It's only one o'clock." the Curator sighed. "my husband just hates these things!"

"You mean the man standing by the hundreds and hundreds of guns?"

"Yes, he sure looks bored!"

"The fact that he's been over there the whole time really supports your theory." the Curator smiled.

"Like my friend here said, we're leaving!" I said bravely, pushing everyone towards Rick. "We're getting out of here!" Evy muttered, pulling him away from the guns. "No! I'm not finished!" he cried.

"How about we get some pizza?" Evy whispered. "okay." he grinned immediately. "Always works!" Evy smiled towards us. We got out of that place as fast as we could, and drove away quickly.

Once we got through the doors, the Curator thought about the two weird teenagers that looked suspicious. "I want you to find out there secret, and tell me as soon as you do."


	10. I Learn How to Give a Good Weggie

**CHAPTER 10**

"_Lady, I don't behave for my parents; why would I do it for you?"_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

"Why did you do that?" Evy asked a tinge of annoyingness in her tone.

"I'm sorry!" I said defensively, "I don't wing things very well!"

"No you don't." Rick muttered.

"And why do you hate the Curator? I've been to that museum many times, and he's not bad!" Alex added.

"We just have things against old people." Elizabeth muttered.

"The three days we've spent with you two! I know something's up." Evy sighed.

"Okay, he's in the second movie." I admitted.

"And..."

"He's kinda a naughty person once you get to know him." Elizabeth finished.

"Well, we have other things to worry about." Evy said, "for one thing, Jonathan is home alone in our house with no supervision."

"That's never good!" Rick laughed.

Once we arrived home, Rick found his brother in law lying asleep on the couch, about twenty or thirty beer bottles around him. "Looks like Jonathan got his monthly dose of stupid!" Evy laughed. "Why do they still give Uncle Jonathan money every month? All he does is waste it!"

"I know, sad isn't it?" Evy smiled, "you have my parents to thank for that."

"Sure a long thank you card." Rick muttered, picking up the bar bill. "Three hundred and fifty dollars on beer!" he shouted, slapping Jonathan wake.

"Boy has today been fun!" he said drunkly. "Jonathan!" Evy shrieked, "You DESTROYED my house!"

"My dear, sweet, baby sister, are you really going to blame this all on your big brother?"

"YES!" she sat down, and rubbed her head. "First these troublemakers cause havoc at the museum, then this!"

"You know, too bad you don't have maids in the future!" Elizabeth sighed. Everyone looked at her annoyingly. "Wait." I stopped in my tracks.

"What?" Rick and Alex both asked.

"In the future! You have all done so much for us, what if I can talk old Anubis to take all of us back to the future?"

"Not a bad idea." Rick shrugged. "do they still have donuts there?"

"Of course."

"Then Rick O'Connell is in!"

"How do you expect the god of the underworld to speak to you?" Evy said.

"I don't know! A few nights ago, when we first came here, he just started talking!" I sighed.

"Well, tell me when he decides to give you a call."

"With no more beer left, I'm definitely going!" Jonathan laughed, "Hey Evy, did I remember to tell you that I need to borrow some more money?"

"Oh, we're going alright!" Evy sighed, "I'm going to pack some things."

"What if it doesn't work?" Rick grinned.

"Then I'm still taking a vacation!" she looked at Jonathan. "How about we take all you shopping once we get there?" Elizabeth tried lightning the mood. "You need to blend in somehow."

"You don't think four mummy killers cab blend in?" Rick laughed.

"That's the other thing. No one can know who you really are in the future." I said.

"I'm okay with that." Jonathan smiled.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning."

When I fell asleep that night, I tried to concentrate my hardest on Anubis. I called him in my head, over and over.

In my dream, I was alone, and surrounded by a blanket if fog. I had to squint my eyes to see only a few inches from my face.

After two hours of thinking in my dreams, a dark, hooded figure came up in front of me. He took his hood off to reveal the head of a jackal. I stepped back, realizing who it was. "Anubis?" I whispered. He nodded slowly, and spoke in Egyptian. I was surprised of what I could actually make out of the language. "You... To... Wish... I grant." I could feel his power glowing on my skin. I knew he understood what I wanted. I bowed slightly, to thank him for his favor. He backed away slowly, and then faded into the misty fog. I felt strangely and completely alone, like there was no one out there for me. I suddenly felt a strong hand shaking me, trying to get to me. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw two figures leaning over me. "Michelle!" a familiar voice carried through my ears. I almost forgot I had a best friend. "Elizabeth?" I muttered, feeling like I've been sucked through a narrow tube. "What happened?" Evy asked. The kindness in her voice made me feel better. I held my hand up to my forehead. It felt as hot as a tea kettle. "Anubis," I whispered. "Anubis?" Elizabeth and Evy repeated. "He said that he would grant my wish!" I felt my strength returning quickly. "Really?" Evy breathed.

"Yes, really!"

"That's way better than my dream!" Elizabeth grinned, "Because all I got was a hot dog dancing with a pink cat."

"My dream comes ahead just a little bit." I said.

"Well then, if your dream really worked, shouldn't we be there by now?" Evy brought us back to the problem. "I would think once we have everyone together, we can just... Tell him to transport us." I suggested. Evy turned to me, her brown eyes gleaming with desire. "I think that's amazing you got to speak to a God." she threw me a warm and conforming smile. "You must have a wonderful gift."

Elizabeth touches my hand lightly. "We should get everyone else, shouldn't we?" she murmured.

They were so focused on going to the future, they ceased to notice the two heads poking slightly above the window behind them.

"What are they talking about in there?" the Curator snapped at his men, patience running thin. They both held up their hands defensively. "they- they just talk about traveling to the future boss! They're crazy!"

"It might just be the way to taking over the world!" the Curator smiled.

"We can pay our favorite museum visitors another visit."

"Who's ready to see London seventy years from now?" I grinned excitedly.

"You mean it worked?" Rick said doubtfully.

"Are you contradicting her knowledge on Egyptian Gods?" Elizabeth said. Rick thought for a moment, rather a long moment, then shook his head. "I'm sure ready!" Jonathan came in from his bedroom. "Anything is better than getting the punishment I would've gotten from Evy!"

Evy turned around to face her brother, and smiled mischievously. "Not even close from getting off the hook."

"a- aren't we going sometime soon?" Jonathan loosened the collar of his shirt nervously.

I then closed my eyes tightly, and racked brain trying to get to the god of the underworld. "Are you sure-" Rick asked, after his wife shushed him.

The same low voices began their sequence. "I told you!" I felt superior at that moment. Even I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the O'Connell's house disappear right before my eyes. For one split second, we were all surrounded by nothing. Like my dream. White, misty world of nothingness. Then, as fast as it came, the backdrop changed once again. Everything looked like it did two days ago. I almost forgot about the four extra people we took with us. We all stood at the corner of Oxbururg and Vincent avenue. It took about five minutes until the O'Connell's got their voice back. "This... Are... We on another planet?" Alex muttered, turning his gaze from side to side.

"Pretty girls! Everywhere!" Jonathan laughed, pinching him repeatedly.

"Yes, everywhere." Rick merely breathed.

Evy turned her head around so quickly her hair smacked Jonathan in the face. "What?"

"Nothing compared to you honey!" he tried to laugh it out.

"I'll remember to get to you after I'm done with this one." she glared at the both of them.

"Common guys!" Elizabeth diverged their attention to their surroundings. "We're in the future! Well at least you are." she smiled.

"Yes, back to our problems." I said. "We need to get all you new clothes."

"What's wrong with the ones we have on now?" Alex looked down at his usual attire. A tan suit with knee socks his mother had picked out. "That's twice I've been mortally insulted today." Evy folded her arms.

"Forget about that." I said tersely. "Elizabeth, I know this is a lot to ask, but can you take the boys to your house to get some clothes?" I said. "I know your older brother has some old things he wouldn't mind giving up, right?"

Elizabeth bit her lip for a moment, and then nodded. "I could figure something out."

"Evelyn and I can have some girl time together!" I smiled. Nails, hair, shopping, I could do it all.

Just before we were going to split up, three boys came up to us. "Look Jacob, it's the O'Connell's!" one of them laughed.

"Wow, that's the saddest thing I gave ever seen!" another said.

"This outfit look nothing like what the real Rick would wear!" the last one laughed, attempting to touch the fabric. Rick slapped it away, glaring at them. "Her hair looks nothing like the real thing!"

Evy gasped, touching her hair offensively. "This is too many insulting comments for one day! I think my head might explode!" she nodded to Rick, and the both of them walked slowly towards the group of boys. "By that I meant... Could we just call backsies or somethin?"

In less than a minute, Rick and Evy had all three of them hanging on the nearest flagpole, wiggling like worms on a hook. "That's called a red- coat weggie!" Rick cupped his hands over his mouth like a megaphone. Giving them one more satisfactory look, Evy turned back to Elizabeth and me.

"They're good." Jacob muttered, feeling an odd breeze that sent a chill down his spine. Another gust of wind banged him against the flagpole, sending his painful cries all over the city. 


	11. I Go Shopping With an Actress

**CHAPTER 11**

"_What do you mean more attractive, sweet, and devilishly charming?"_

_-The Mummy Returns_

I shook my head in disgust. "I can't believe I ever liked him." Elizabeth shook with silent laughter. "He always was a big fat idiot." she agreed. I glanced back at the O'Connell's, and sighed. "Okay. First, no talking to people around here, we don't need any confusion." I instructed, "Finally, if you're hungry, we can stop at MacDonald's on the way to the mall."

Before Evy could open her mouth, Elizabeth threw her the information. "Dr. Pepper, cheap, greasy food all that junk."

I glanced at Michelle, and whispered, "be careful." into her ear. I took Evy's hand in mine, and waved a sad goodbye to the rest of the family.

Little did we know that we brought one extra person with us on our journey across time.

The Curator smiled at his superior work he'd done. Twelve hours ago, he would've thought that the time travel thing was absurd. Now, it was his one way ticket to ruling the world. All he had to do was sneak up behind those two girls with the strange attitudes and the waco family and bang! He was in the future. And they didn't even know he was there. He figured that he would find where the book of the dead was, the one he was planning to use on Imhotep before those suspicious girls came out of nowhere. Out of his thoughts, the Curator looked up to see a familiar, battered old sign up ahead. The British Museum.

Elizabeth quietly turned the key to her apartment, and opened the door. She sighed with relief when she found her house completely empty. "Is it safe?" Alex whispered behind her. She nodded, and walked further in. Her mother wouldn't be home for another hour or so. Perfect time to do some digging around. "I probably only have clothes that fit Alex." Elizabeth said, "Since my father doesn't live with us anymore." she shook her frown away and walked into her brother's room. "He's away at college right now, so it's just me and my mom."

"Lucky you!" Jonathan grinned.

"It's not lucky, it's boring!" Elizabeth sighed. She began searching through her brother's closet. Everything was sorted in little baskets according to age. "My mom is kinda a neat freak."

She smiled when she came to the pile labeled 6-8. "These should fit you just fine." Elizabeth said, holding up a pair of red converse shoes, baggy jeans, and a green shirt. "You want him to look like a gangster?" Rick looked strangely at the clothes.

"That's the style these days."

"I could get used to these!" Alex grinned. Elizabeth pointed to the right hallway where the bathroom was.

"You're next O'Connell." she glanced at Rick with a wicked smile.

I grabbed my laptop from my room, and quietly took a few Dr. Peppers from the fridge. "Here. Thought you might want a bottle to yourself." Evy gratefully took the bottle, and downed half the bottle in one gulp.

"Good, isn't it?" I smiled, taking one myself. "But we should get back to business." I pulled up my online checkbook on the screen. "730 pounds?" Evy gasped. "That's a lot of money for a sixteen year old girl!"

"See what five years of babysitting can do to your bank account?" I said.

I moved the arrow towards the withdraw button, and typed in the number 300. "Time to go shopping!" I smiled. Evy looked at the money, and shook her head. "You can't spend your money on my clothes!"

"You guys are my heroes; it's the least I can do."

Evy looked at the screen, then back to me. "We'll go cheap, right?"

"Whatever makes you happy."

I held up the credit card between my fingers.

"Shall we?"

Elizabeth smiled when she saw Alex in his new attire. "You just look so cute!" she laughed, hugging him. "But you now reek of my brother." she opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a bottle of cologne. It was labeled 'chic magnet'. She took the lid off and gave Alex a couple of sprays. "Other stuff is really strong, but it attracts girls like moths to light."

Hearing this, Jonathan grabbed the bottle and dumped the whole thing on his clothes. "Nice." Rick smirked, seeing the empty bottle.

"Now we can go shopping for you two!" Elizabeth smiled. Rick and Jonathan looked uncertainly at each other. "Don't worry; I'm great when it comes to shopping for boys! I planned out my cousin's whole wardrobe for his wedding!"

Leaving the men be, Elizabeth slipped out into the hall, and into her mothers bedroom. Everything was just as she left it last time she went in there. Neat, tidy, and clean. She went over to her dresser, eyeing the top drawer. Her mother had told her if there was any emergency, she'd know where her secret credit card was. Elizabeth pulled it out, looking at it greedily. "Are you sure your mom wants you playing around with that thing?" Alex came into the room. "Well," she looked at Jonathan's soaked clothes. "This is defiantly an emergency!"

I opened the giant doors at the front entrance of the mall, and smiled at the familiar surroundings. I've been here many times before, but this was the first time going with a celebrity. "How do you like it?" I asked, dying to know what comments she had for such a wonderful place. "I- I think I'm in heaven!" she gasped at the millions of stores in front of her. "Every girls dream lies within these walls." I sighed.

"This beats chasing mummies around Egypt any day!" Evy laughed. I had to shake her out of het trance before moving on with the tour. "Journeys, Hollister, Abercrombie, the possibilities are endless!" I grinned.

We walked through all the hallways, pointing out all the good stores. When we came upon the Victoria's Secret store, Evy halted to a stop. She eyed the giant pictures of women in interesting choices of clothing like it was a horror movie. "Do people usually..."

"No, no, no, definitely NO." I said, disgusted at the new styles they now had at that store. "Okay then, moving on!" Evy shook the pictures out of her head.

We went on our way, trying to forget what we just saw a few minutes back. After some walking around, we finally made it to the store I was waiting for. Aeropostale. There, you can find the cutest clothes, (some of them at a rather high price) jewelry, perfume, and more. "Here it is!" I said excitedly. Evy was instantly all over a pair of sandals as soon as she walked in. I hesitated, and then looked at the price tag. "Fifty pounds?" I gave her a sympathetic glance. She sadly put the shoes down, and looked elsewhere around the store. Everything there looked fine, but Evelyn O'Connell needed something spectacular to wear.

I eyed a pair of jeans, boot cut. "I thought denim was only for workers." Evy said.

"Here, everyone wears them." I smiled, pushing the boot cut one back to reveal skinny jeans. I picked what I thought was the right size, and held it up in the air. "Perfect!"

Evy took a long stare at the jeans. "If you have twigs for legs, then sure!" she laughed. "Trust me; they'll make you look irresistible!" I reassured.

I handed her the jeans and began searching through different tops. Evy laughed when she saw one that had a picture of a pyramid and said 'everything's sandy in Egypt'.

"I know right." I smirked. Putting it back in its rightful place, I saw the perfect one next to it. It was an ivory white spaghetti strap top with a bright flower on the side. I grabbed a matching purple cardigan to go with it and pushed Evy into the changing room. Minutes later, she came out looking like a model. "Wow." I breathed. "Do I know fashion or what?"

"I love it!" Evy smiled. "The only problem is that I can't bend my legs to save my life."

"You get used to it." I walked over to the cash register to pay for the clothes. The cash register lady looked at the new Evy suspiciously. "Have I seen you before?" she asked.

"No, I'm not a million dollar actress sorry." Evy grinned.

"Fifty three pounds." the woman tried keeping her eyes off the potential movie star. I gave her the money, and glanced at the counter. I couldn't resist the temptation. I grabbed the gold necklace, along with a bottle of perfume and a pair of sunglasses and added them to the pile.

Once we got out, I handed her the accessories and smiled at the perfection. "Now nobody can really recognize you!"

Evy smiled, and gave me a hug. "Thanks for doing that."

"No problem!" I grinned, "We should probably head back to my place though." I saw the sun setting outside.

"And we better hurry."

The adventurer Rick O'Connell stood by the mirror, looking at his new appearance. He had on:

-a red Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt

-dark (NOT skinny) jeans

-a pair of new Vans sneakers

"Elizabeth, I'm not sure-"

"You look amazing Rick!" Elizabeth laughed. Her laughter grew in volume when she saw Jonathan struggling to button up his pants. His shirt came from the same store that Rick's came from, but his had the words 'question authority' across it.

"I don't think your sister will like that shirt." Elizabeth said.

"That's why it's perfect!" Jonathan muttered. Elizabeth jumped up from her bed, and ran into the bathroom. She came back moments later with a bottle of hair gel. "Meet your new best friend!" she said, dabbing it into the palm of her hand. She signaled to Alex, and put the gob of gel in his hair. "This stuff is like a date in a bottle." Elizabeth whispered to him. "neto!" he grinned, feeling his now messed up hair.

Rick paused, hearing a noise in the kitchen. "I think somebody's home." he said. "Oh great." Elizabeth sighed, shushing everyone down. She hesitantly opened her bedroom door, and gasped when she saw her mother standing by the front door. "Elizabeth?" her mom said, rather surprised at her sudden appearance. "I thought Michelle's mom said you two were at some lake house or something!"

Elizabeth forced herself to smile, keeping everything under her control. "Yea, well, we got bored and went home early."

"I see." she rolled her eyes at her daughters attitude. "Don't scare me like that!" she said.

"Well, as you can see mother, everything is okay with me!" Elizabeth started back towards the bathroom where her fugitives lay. When she thought her statement could become true, a man came out of the bathroom. "You're all out of soap!" Jonathan yelled, obviously oblivious to the woman standing next to his friend. "Why is there a grown man in your bathroom?" Elizabeth's mother shouted. "Jonathan?" Elizabeth groaned, pushing him back into the room. "Who the heck is Jonathan?"

"Can we just pretend that didn't happen?" she grimaced. Seeing the look on her mothers face told her otherwise.

"Can I also bring out the fact that I love you?"

Her mom pushed Elizabeth aside, and opened the door. Two grown men, plus an eight year old boy waved to the shocked mother. "Oh, didn't know there would be three of them!"

Jonathan got up to get his hat, and looked up to see Elizabeth's mother more carefully. He was very surprised of what he saw in front of him. She looked exactly like Elizabeth. The blond hair, the same smile, pretty complexion, and she was older too. "Um, hello." he stammered, sticking out his hand willingly. Very strange for Jonathan Carnhan. "Julie Princeton. I have to say, your cologne smells really nice!" she smiled. The two of them stood there, gazing into each others eyes for a long moment's time. Elizabeth waved a hand in front of her moms face, seeing no response from her. "eww!" she stuck her finger into her mouth. 'This probably isn't the right time to tell her that he kissed me a few days ago.' she thought. The only good thing is that she completely forgot about being ferociously mad at her daughter. "Why don't you take your friends over to Michelle's or something." her mom finally uttered. That was good enough for Elizabeth. She grabbed Rick's hand, and ran out for the back door.


	12. Lies, Lies, and More Lies

**CHAPTER 12**

"_When the time comes, I will truly enjoy killing you."_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

"Excuse me sir, the museum will be closing in five minutes." the now current museum manager said, trying to keep his cool when talking to a customer. "Oh," the Curator smiled, "I can assure you, once I have what I came for, I'll be on my way and out of your miserable life."

The manager looked at the man in red robes suspiciously. "And what did you come here for?"

"An Egyptian artifact." he drew a knife from his robes. "Take me to it, and I will spare your life."

The manager looked like it was a good teenage prank. "Okay man, where's the hidden camera?"

"I will not ask you again, fool! Tell me where the book of the dead lies!" he dug the knife deep into his skin. "I- I don't know!" he held his hands up defensively. The museum was almost pitch dark, not a single soul in sight. "Then you are useless to Me." the Curator rose up his knife with great vengeance. "It's somewhere in the back room!" the manager blurted out.

The Curator gave him a long, hard stare. He dropped his weapon, letting it clang to the floor. He turned towards the storage room door, and started for it. "Hey man, promise me you'll take your medicine tomorrow!" he called after the deranged man.

As soon as Evy and I entered my house, trouble began its course. I stopped short as I saw my mom in her bedroom, reading her favorite magazine. "Stay here!" I whispered, leaving her outside unnoticed. "Hey mom!" I tried to be in one of my happy daughter moods. "Michelle? You said you'd be back tomorrow!" she looked really confused.

"I know, we just got bored, that's all." I smiled. "Bored. At a lake house? That's real convincing mummy girl!" she smirked. I looked around uncertainly, and then started on my plan. "Well, I brought someone with me I'd like you to meet." I turned around and gestured Evelyn towards me. "I told Robert that I would pay him back tomorrow!" she groaned. "No, I brought my friends mom." I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Great. I've been meaning to meet this chic." she smiled. I pulled her out of the room, and into the living room. Evy quickly put her sunglasses on, and tried to blend in. "hi, nice to finally meet you!" she smiled, shaking her hand politely.

"Wow, nobody hardly does that anymore."

"That's not true, some people still do!" I tried to keep the balance in the room. My mother paused for a moment, then said, "So where's your daughter?"

"What?"

"Your daughter... Anne, wasn't it?"

"Oh yes! Anne, well, she got sick while we were there and so that's why we had to leave early." she breathed in deeply. "Michelle didn't say anything about her friend getting sick."

Evy put a hand on my shoulder. "Kids these days!"

I was beginning to grow tired of the adult's conversation. I looked over my moms shoulder to see my best friend, along with the rest of the gang. "Heh- well good chat today ladies, we should be going now!" I gave Evy a warning glance, and she immediately understood. "But, she just got here!" now my mom was the one giving me the crazy look. "Mom, Evy. Evy, mom!" I pushed my Egyptian buddy out the door. "Evy? Like Evy O'Connell?" my mom laughed.

"Really funny mom." I smiled through clenched teeth. "I meant Evelyn!"

We would've made it out the door safely, if it wasn't for my mistake. We were greeted by Elizabeth, Rick, Jonathan, and Alex. "who the heck are you?" my moms brow deepened.

"Evelyn's family, about to LEAVE." I was getting pretty annoyed with the unexpected visitors.

"Wait. You two." she pointed at Rick and Evy. "The hilarious brother," she gestured to Jonathan. "Oh, and Alex!"

His eyes widened.

"You're the O'Connell's!" my mom burst out laughing. Everyone eventually joined in hesitantly, once they knew it was all a joke. "Oh mother, you card." I wiped the sweat off my face. "I've been watching the Mummy too many times." my mom sighed. "Have you ever seen it?"

"No, never heard of it." Rick said with a straight face.

My mom must've grown tired of the mummy talk, because she changed the subject rather quickly.

"I heard about your daughter being sick and all." my mom sighed.

"What?"

Evy was quickly by his side, giving him a just- go- along- with- it stare. "Ah, yes. My daughter is really, really sick at the moment."

"We're really sad about it." Evy made a pouty face at her husband.

"We were planning to go visit her right now... So see you later!" we all dashed out of there quickly. "Wait! Evy, you never told me anything about a daughter!" Jonathan yelled after her. "Yes I did! Right at that time where you were being an idiot!" she said.

"Must've missed that."

Jonathan and Elizabeth's mom were attracted to each other like bees to honey. "I didn't know you were a professional football player Jonathan!" Elizabeth's mom sighed, looking into his deep blue eyes. "well, aside from being the worlds best athlete, I spend my free time cooking for the homeless," Jonathan smiled. Number four on his conversation starters for cute women. "I've never seen you around here before." Julie said, not really caring what the answer of the question was. "I'm not going to lie to you," he racked his brain for an explanation. "I have been living across the pond with our American friends.

Elizabeth's mother fell silent in thought. "what?" Jonathan was beginning to think he did something wrong in his master plan. "oh, nothing." she sighed, "it's just my grandfather used to say the exact same thing, and he lived during World War II."

Jonathan felt bad lying to Julie, but there was nothing he could do. Yes, I'm from the past! I came here by an Egyptian God who can talk to a teenager; forced by my sister to act like I actually belong here... Even Jonathan thought that was crazy. He had never felt this way about a girl before. 'Maybe I can mix some truth in this.' he wondered.

"my nephew is having a lot of fun with your daughter." he tried to lighten the mood just a bit. Julie started to laugh.

"Elizabeth and her friend are- were at a lake house with a friend from school!"

Great! Evy just can't stop with the lies, can she? "Yes." Jonathan said weakly. "My sister took her two kids with her on their little trip."

"She took her kids with her when Michelle, Elizabeth, and their friend were having a sleep over?"

Jonathan smiled. "Oh yes, my sister can be just a bit crazy sometimes!"

Elizabeth's mom put a hand on his shoulder. "You are the funniest, brightest, cutest guy I've ever met!"

"And I don't get those kind of comments every day!"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, interrupting the couple's conversation. "I have a bad feeling about this." Jonathan mumbled, getting off the couch to answer the door. "Oh, let me." Julie protested, going after him. Jonathan swiveled around, and grinned. "Trust me, I got it."

Just as he expected, the whole gang stood outside, looking like they just escaped trouble. "Hey Jonathan!" I smiled. "Sorry to interrupt whatever you two were doing." I looked around suspiciously. "Why back so soon?" Elizabeth's mom recognized the three guys hiding in her daughter's bedroom immediately. "This is Anne's family mom!" Elizabeth invited everyone to sit on the couch. "Anne got sick, so these poor people have nowhere to go." she added, hoping it would make up for the mishap a few hours back. "Umm... Why are they at my house though?" Elizabeth's mom was still unconvinced.

"they're related to Jonathan!" that make Julie stop and reconsider. "if they're your family Jonathan, and you want them here..." everyone turned to him with a do- it- or- else stare.

Jonathan folded his arms. "fine. But leave us alone! All of you!" he looked directly at his sister. She held up her hands defensively. "alright, don't let me get in the way of your bonding time!"

Jonathan held out an open hand out to Julie, who took it happily. "good day to you all." he grumbled, leading her out of the room.

Rick looked at Elizabeth. "nice place you got here."

"thanks." she replied rather sheepishly.

"you know what we should do?" I formed an evil smile towards my best friend. "when in doubt..."

"...watch the Mummy!" she finished, getting up to retrieve the DVD. A light turned on in my brain, for I remembered something I recalled saying to a friend of mine. It was two weeks ago. In science class, Jeanne Henderson slipped me a note. It read: I'd do anything to meet Ardeth Bay.

I wrote back, new too. Tell you what. When I meet the cast of the Mummy, I'll tell Ardeth you said hi.

Jeanne smiled, and replied, if I were to meet Ardeth Bay in real life, I would give you fifty pounds off the bat.

Coming back to reality, I turned to Rick. "do you remember you're old buddy Ardeth?"

Rick thought for a moment. "sure I do."

"Maybe I can talk o'l Anubis into bringing another player into this game." I pulled out my phone and speed texted Jeanne.

"Remember that time when you said you'd like to meet Ardeth Bay?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Well, today's that day."

"What do u mean?"

"I can send u back in time to meet him in Egypt."

"Yah, right!"

"Don't believe me? Com over 2 Elizabeth's house now."

"Still not gonna work..."

"And bring yr 50 pounds!"

I put down my phone with a satisfactory smile. "she'll see!"

"What about the movie?" Alex said, "am I in it?"

"Um no, it's only them." Elizabeth said sadly. Alex frowned, and turned to his mom. "Why have all the fun without me?"

"Trust me sweetheart; being forced against your will to go with an undead creature to be killed isn't exactly fun." Evy recalled the sour memory. Alex was shocked.

"You never told me anything about that!"

"You'll see," I laughed, pressing the DVD slot closed.


	13. There's Envy in the Medjai fanclub

**CHAPTER 13**

"_Pull me up! Pull me up! Wait- let me down! Let me down!"_

_ -The Mummy Returns_

Alex sat in utter disbelief. "You- you were in prison?" he saw his father with long hair and a really, really bad mouth.

Ten years later, he would be the devoted dad who had to shave once a day. Alex turned to Evy; the face he had thought was there forever, then to the timid librarian on the screen. "You look so- so- young!"

Evy scowled at her son. "Thanks. I love you too."

Even Rick seemed to be amazed at what was before them. "This is everything that happened ten years ago!"

Evy smiled at that comment. "And I remember every second of it."

Alex shuddered. "Now I'm glad I wasn't

There!"

"I'm sure glad I was." Rick put his arm around her shoulders.

"Hey Alex, you can sit with us." I signaled him over to our side of the couch.

"Thank you." he said, sitting gratefully a whole five feet away from his parents.

The doorbell rang for the fourth time that day. Annoyed, Elizabeth got up from the movie and opened the door. Jeanne the Medjai lover stood by the door, bubbling with excitement. "I don't know what you have planned Michelle, but I'm in!" she passed the fifty pounds over to me. "Glad for your business." I smiled, pocketing the money. I leaned in closer to her. "What we're about to show you, no matter what we do, you can't tell anyone." I made my voice clear. She shook her head in agreement.

I looked at Elizabeth uncertainly, and then thought about what we were doing. Let's just pick everyone off the street and tell them we have four people from a movie! I didn't even know if Anubis would go along with our plan. You can't expect the god of the underworld to agree to everything. He probably hated us by now.

I closed my eyes, once again, and signaled to Anubis. "I know this is asking a lot, but can I send someone here to Egypt 1932?"

I head Anubis growl. "What do I look like to you? A personal teleporter? I was there when they created Egypt for heaven sake! Now I'm a chaperone for a bunch of kids!"

"Okay, first of all, pretty mouthy for an ancient God." I smirked. "Secondly, I am sixteen years old. Finally, my friend really wants to meet Ardeth Bay... And we won't ask for anything else..." I started to beg.

Anubis didn't really seem to favor that idea. "if you promise... I can't believe this! Fine, whatever! While I'm at it, anyone else you want to meet?" really sarcastic for a man of absolute power.

I thought about it for a moment, and then turned to Elizabeth. "Izzy!" we both shouted. "Hey, I have a friend named that!" Rick laughed.

"Yes, that's the one!" Elizabeth smiled. "You shaved his head, waxed his legs, and used him for a surfboard in Tripoli! You also did that 'bank job' in Marrakesh-"

"-bank job?" Evy looked suspiciously at Rick. "We'll save the rest of this topic for another time." I grinned.

"Izzy please." I said.

Anubis sighed. "One Izzy coming up!"

"And you're friend here can have a one way ticket to Egypt."

I took Jeanne's hand. "Don't say anything about the future, or anything that could affect the movie."

She shook her head, smiling from ear to ear. "I'm going to meet Ardeth! He's sooo hot!" she squealed. In an instant, she vanished from the room like a forceful wind blew out a candle. "Why isn't Izzy here yet?" Alex asked.

"Long distance travels can take a few hours." I sighed. "Anubis told me." that conquered most of the family's confusion. "Then we can finish this awesome movie!" Alex grinned.

"Not the part where that thing kisses me!" Evy shuddered. "I just finished my therapy lessons for that!"

Elizabeth pulled out a box from her purse. "Before we do, I have something for you guys." she went over with the box and sat next to me. We both divvied them out to everyone. Rick ripped his small gift up eagerly, awaiting his prize. His face of enjoyment turned to confusion when he held a small, heavy, rectangle shaped object. "What is it?" he turned it around with the palm of his hand.

I went to sit down next to him. "It's a cell phone, like ours!" I smiled, pressing the power button. It turned on with a luminous glow, making everyone's eyes widen. I went onto the contact list on Ricks new IPhone, and typed in my number in for the first contact. "This is Elizabeth's number," I finished typing it in, "you can call it wherever you are and talk to us." Ricks smile was unforgettable. "So we all get one?" he looked at the rest of his family. "Yes, even the rebel O'Connell can have a touch screen phone." Elizabeth laughed.

Alex looked like he just one the lottery. "This is so cool!" he scrolled through all the installed games on his iPhone. "Watching them on TV, new clothes, and now these?" I thought he was going to faint. "And..." I grinned, looking at the Skype app in front of me. "This is the newest thing available!" I put down Evy's number, and pressed send. Immediately, her own phone started to vibrate. Elizabeth pressed ok, and waited for the picture to download. Evy gasped as her husbands face appeared on her screen.

"What the-" her voice carried through to Rick's phone, making it louder.

"Now you guys can always keep in touch, no matter how far apart you are from each other!" I thought of a million and two reasons they would need that app. I pulled out Jonathan's phone and put into his sisters hands. "I have this one child proof for various reasons." I personally bought an otter box with all the inappropriate software blocked.

"That's a relief!" she smiled, keeping it hidden until the time was right. "How did you get four of these right off the bat?" Rick asked, fully mesmerized by the zombie killer app he had downloaded. "My dad works for the Apple Company." I said. "He can get all the phones he wants!" I failed to mention that he was away on a business trip all the way in Italy at the moment. When you're spending time with people like the O'Connell's, you just keep your mouth shut and finish the movie.

Jeanne shielded her eyes as the bright Egyptian sun touched her skin. She didn't think traveling to meet the real Ardeth Bay would actually work!

The great pyramid of Giza stood right above her, standing tall for thousands of years to come. A group of Medjai were out in the hot sand, practicing their new tactics. On his gray stallion, the leader of the Medjai was shouting out commands to his trainees. All the millions of pictures on Goggle couldn't prepare Jeanne for what she saw a feet in front of her. He looked three times cuter than he did in the movie. Jeanne pulled out her phone, and changed her Facebook status. It said, "About to meet Ardeth Bay! I will give everyone on the Medjai hotness club instant updates. Wish me luck!"

With that being said, Jeanne pocketed her phone and put her plan into action. She strode up to her future boyfriend, careful not to get in any of the others way. What a sight the Medjai had that day, seeing a sixteen year old girl in blue jeans and sparkly shoes walk up to their most trusted leader. "Um excuse me? Ardeth?" she tugged on his robes. He looked down to see her face bubbling over with excitement. "who are you?" he asked, dismounting his horse with ease. "I'm like- your biggest fan in the world!" she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck. Ardeth stared at Jeanne for a moment, wondering whether or not to be flattered or nervous. "I love love love you so so so much!" she could've gone on forever, but the shortage of breath made her stop. This changed his perspective of the (not so bad looking) girl. "Well," he put his arm around hers. "The Medjai are bound by sacred laws to protect all living things." Jeanne looked like she was about to scream bloody murder. "Okay!" she smiled, letting him pick her up in his arms. He put her on top of his mighty stallion, and climbed up in front of her. She put her arms around his waist, breathing in the intoxicating fumes of his cure Medjai outfit. The others looked at him strangely. "You can keep on practicing those drills." Ardeth said blandly, waving his hand away from his men. "don't wait up for us." he called back, galloping graciously into the sunset. Every Medjai lovers dream.

The Curator grasped the book of the Dead gingerly, like dropping it could end the world. 'I didn't even need help!' he smirked at his own thought. No longer will he need to serve that wrenched lady that had a dead boyfriend. He could do anything he wanted by himself. today would be the day when he would show the world what he wad capable of. The Curator opened the museum door, letting the light shine in the dark building. Not again will Julius Hafez be used for a puppet.

He stepped outside, holding the book high for everyone to see. "with this book, I shall rule the world!"

This made most everyone on the street stop and stare at the physco person yelling out threatening statements.

If only the O'Connell's weren't on vacation from all the mummy madness.

The Mummy Returns own Izzy Burges appeared right on schedule inside Elizabeth's house. "Izzy!" we all shouted in unison, meeting the last of the main mummy characters. "Ahoy O'Connell!" he yelled, apparently loving the new atmosphere. "Might I ask where I am and why you're included in this pandemonium?"

"Dude, it's the future!" Rick smiled. "They have everything here! Including toilets that flush automatically!"

Izzy soaked in all the new information, and then looked at Rick. "I swear anything like Tripoli and I'm out!"

O'Connell grinned, and then gave his old buddy a friendly slap on the back. "And I was in the middle of constructing my newest invention when I suddenly appeared here!" he looked really disappointed. I put a hand on his shoulder. "They have airplanes here in the future."

Izzy looked really surprised. "Really?"

"But nothing can beat out a wooden derigable." Elizabeth shrugged.

"Nothing." I agreed, picturing the makeshift blimp soaring away from the twenty foot tall water mass and crashing into an Egyptian oasis.

"This is the last one, right?" Evy asked.

"I think so." I said rather sadly. "I wonder how our friend is doing in her living fantasy." I suddenly remembered Jeanne talking our ear off about how cute Horus would look in a fluffy skirt.

"Hey!" it sounded like Elizabeth got one of her bright ideas. "I can ask my mom about taking us sightseeing!"

I agreed with that thought of hers. "She and Jonathan looked pretty comfy in that room over there." I teased.

Elizabeth scowled at me, and then turned to the closed door behind us. "Be right back." she grumbled, walking hesitantly towards the room.

"Where have you been all my life?" Jonathan smiled. Julie just got cuter by the second, making him want to leave her less and less. "I've truly never been with someone like you since my last husband." her voice faded like an unfriendly thought came to mind.

"Well, I'm here now, and I would never let you down." Jonathan said softly, aching to make a good move like his brother in law could with his sister. He moved closer, careful with every movement. Julie saw it coming, and she too wanted it more than anything at the moment. She closed her eyes and tilted her chin up. When Jonathan was only an inch from her face, Elizabeth barged into the room, not expecting what she saw in front of her. "What are you doing?" she shouted, making the two whirl around quickly. Julie's face reddened as she tried to think of something to say to her daughter. "What do you want?" she said harshly, maybe a little too harsh. "nothing." she frowned at her mother, and then turned to leave. "Wait, can't we talk?" her mom said, giving an apologetic glance to Jonathan. "Oh no, don't let me get in the way of your friendly conversation!" she shouted back the stinging words. With that last remark, Elizabeth stormed out of the room. She tried to go back to her pretend life, the one she could always go to when things went sour. Where she could for one moment believe that everything was okay.

I watched Elizabeth storm out of the kitchen, and looked away when she turned to me. "Why did we have to watch the stupid movies? They caused us nothing but trouble! We should never have brought that stupid idiot Jonathan with us!" she shouted.

I thought for a moment, and then put a hand on my best friends shoulder. "Tell me. What would the Mummy movies be without the great Jonathan Carnahan?"

"I guess not as amazing." she grumbled.

"Yes! Nothing!" I was relieved I finally broke through. "Evy had to deal with him his whole life, so I think you can cope with him for a week."

Elizabeth smiled. "I guess you're right!" I smiled, and promised a whole week of Mummy madness to her. She frowned, "how about a month?" I bit my lip. "Deal." I grinned.

"Okay! We can still show Izzy around, right?"

I laughed. "That's why you're my best friend!"

"Hey!" Alex shouted over to us, looking off the balcony and into the streets. "Isn't that the guy from the museum?" that made my heart almost skip a beat. The Curator? Here in 2011? With the book of the dead? That could change everything! "We have to get down there now!" we just had to stop him.

"But what about the airplanes?" Izzy wailed.

"Later!" Elizabeth said, pushing him towards the flight of stairs leading to the sidewalk below.

"With this book, I shall rule the world!"

He was very fond of saying that line from his world domination script. "Hafez? The old guy that runs the museum?" Evy thought it was all a crazy joke. "I told you he was naughty." I sighed. "but, how did he get the book?" Rick asked.

"And how did he get into the future?"

"What will he do to the city?"

"Enough with the questions!" I snapped.

Knowing the O'Connell's didn't know the Curators potential, I had to step into action. "Hey! Remember us?" I yelled at him. I was only doing to add another hand joke, but I didn't think it was completely necessary at the moment. "You two? Seems weird to be in London when you live in America." he smirked. "Just give us the book and you can go back to your time!" reasoning was always the first step in conquering your enemy.

"Why would I go back? They don't have automatic toothbrushes there!" he grinned. "And Imhotep himself taught me how to read the book!"

That really didn't surprise me a whole lot, but I tried my hardest to look it. "Really..." Elizabeth and I exchanged glances. "So what if we take the book from you and send you back whether you like it or not?" my patience was wearing thin. The Curator opened the book quickly, and looked for the inscription. "Come any closer and I will unleash a force greater than the world has ever known!"

"Yes, yes I think we've all seen the trailer for the Mummy Returns." Elizabeth laughed. Rick saw his chance to ambush the creepy old dude. He started for him with his gun in hand. "Wait!" I flew my arms in front of him. He couldn't kill him; no Curator means a different second movie. "Who's side are you on?" he demanded. Rick wanted nothing more than to blow him to pieces. Seizing his golden chance, the Curator put his finger on the spell he'd been looking for. "Raise my golden army!" he translated. "Have the world in the palm of my hand!"

"NO!" we all lunged for the book at the same time.

The Curator flew his hand towards us, making us fly backwards into a wall with an imaginary force. "you cannot stop me!" he smiled.

"You wait!" I felt it was the perfect time to add in some quotes. "We'll put them in their graves again!"

The sun fell behind the clouds, making the light dim down dramatically. A clap of thunder shook the city. With that sudden noise, the Curator seemed to just disappear into the mist, waiting to see his new army he now had complete control over. People came walking out of their houses, wondering that the heck was going on. Our mummy adventure was about to take a twisted turn for the worst. And this time, it wasn't a scene in a movie; it was real.


	14. Kathy Meets her Future Husband

**CHAPTER 14**

"_Your parents wouldn't slip poisonous snakes in your bed; while you were sleeping…." _

_ -The Mummy Returns_

"What in the name of all things mummy is happening out here?" my sister Kathy came running to us down the sidewalk. She stopped short when she saw the O'Connell's, along with Izzy, in London. "Who are you guys?" her attitude changed drastically when she saw Alex in the flesh and blood. "I don't believe we've met." he grinned, the feeling mutual. Kathy shook his hand, looking at him strangely. "Alex O'Connell." he said politely.

"Kathy Daniels. Wait- did you say Alex O'Connell? As in THE Alex O'Connell?" she seemed to forget the world crises we were in at the moment. I looked at my sister sternly, and decided to tell her the truth. "They're the real O'Connell's Kathy." she almost laughed.

"Yah right Michelle! That's Izzy over there, Rick, Evy, all we're missing is the not cute at all Medjai dude!" she smirked. I sighed loudly. We just didn't have time for an annoying little girl. "She's telling the truth." Evy shrugged.

Kathy thought for a moment, and then went up to Jonathan. "If you had a choice between going to a bar or meeting a hot girl on the streets, which one would you pick?"

Jonathan smiled at how alike she was compared to me. "That's a tough one, but if I had to choose one, I'd choose the bar because there are cute girls and beers there!"

Kathy thought of another one. The first one was just too easy. Any guy would choose that answer. "Oh! What's three hundred twenty seven divided by five?"

"Nine? Pi? Subtract? Something squared?" his brain was starting to fizzle up. "Yup. That's definitely him!" she grinned. Kathy then gave Alex another glance, realizing he was who he said he was. "You are WAY cuter now than you were in the movie!" she flipped her hair back in that girly kind of way. Alex grinned modestly, his face beginning to redden. "Thanks. I get that a lot." he wouldn't mind getting a hug from her.

The rain was beginning to pour down outside. Elizabeth and I ran for the shelter of the nearest bus stop. I wiped the water of the screen of my phone, and put it to my ear. "Jeanne?" I had to yell over the thunder.

"Michelle? That you?" Jeanne was in the middle of picnicking in the sunlight with her new boyfriend, one that many girls would die for. "Must you be on that contraption when we're on a date?" Ardeth Bay asked.

"Date?" Elizabeth shrieked, once I put her on speaker. Jeanne just grinned. "Jealous much?"

"ewww!" we both wrinkled out noses at the though of it. "Back to reality! The Curator just jacked the black book from the movie and read something in it. Then some lightning hit, the sun vanished, and the little booger disappeared somewhere with an evil laugh." I was in my panic mode now.

Jeanne didn't understand a word I was saying. "Yes, yes," she shook her head slowly. "Jeanne! The book is gone!" I shouted. She rolled her eyes and handed the phone to Ardeth. "Something about a book?"

"Yes for the third time today, the Curator from the British museum stole the book and read something in Egyptian! And I am positive darkness and lightning is a sign for something bad." I said.

Ardeth thought for a moment, and them realized what he must've read. "if what you said was true, then Imhotep's army will be arisen at Hamanamptra where they will surly take over your world." he said solemnly. Jeanne, hearing this, took her phone back and laughed. "Well you people have fun before the world ends; I'll be soaking up the sun with my hot, adorable boyfriend!"

"I think the whole world includes you and your boyf... Fr... I can't say it!"

"Correction. That's your problem, not ours!" I felt like screaming into the phone. Ardeth put a hand on his girlfriends shoulder. "The Medjai take care of everyone's problems."

Jeanne's eyes popped out, and clutched the phone tightly. "I'm here for you guys." she put a hand on her heart.

"Um..."I was completely out of things to say."Thanks you're on speed dial if Ardeth wants you to do anything else." I was grateful when I finally ended that call. Evy looked at out angry faces, provably wondering what to say. "Hamanamptra?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Izzy, the great and wonderful pilot. "Guess we need a plane."

When Izzy dared to re-open his eyes, he found himself standing in font of a thirty foot plane. "woa!" he took a giant step backwards from the machine. "You said it was a tiny flight plane! Not a... A two ton hunk of metal!"

Elizabeth looked at him skeptically. "Did I fail to mention that the cousin I talked about was in the army for five years? He used to fly this baby all across Iraq." she put a ginger hand on the plane like it was an old friend to her. "But you lied to me!" he snapped.

"Elizabeth lies to everyone! What makes you so special?"

"Oh don't put mummy quotes into this conversation you three!" Evy looked pretty tired out of arguing.

"Yah, that's my job Michelle!" Elizabeth broke into a laugh.

It wasn't hard getting out of the house that morning; it was only talking Kathy into covering for us that was the problem. I was forced to promise a whole week of complete mummy abstinence for our plan to work. From what Elizabeth and I know of, we're at a party at Jeanne's house. I had to come up with some solution for Jeanne not being around for the past few days. So, all we had to do was find an alternate mode of transportation, get to Egypt, and potentially save the world. What could go wrong?


	15. More Jolly Food Jokes

**CHAPTER 15**

"_He just wants the book I swear! Just the book I swear- and your sister. Nothing else!"_

_ -The Mummy_

Right before Izzy started the propellers, a familiar figure showed up on the rearview mirror. Elizabeth turned around violently, regretting ever knowing the figure. "Mom?" she really hated that word. "I want to know what you need a plane for!" she demanded. Once she saw the mayhem outside, she wasn't about to let a bunch of kids go around by themselves. While Elizabeth was figuring out an answer to the question asked, Julie saw Jonathan sitting next to her daughter. "And what are you doing here?" she called. Jonathan's face reddened, for he knew he just had to tell her the truth. He gave her a slight smile, and gestured for her to take a seat next to him. Elizabeth looked at him like he was mental. "You're gonna regret that!" she grumbled. Elizabeth got up from her previous spot and moved next to me. "Save me please." she sighed, hiding her face in her hands.

"So you're not a baseball player?" Julie didn't seem all to shocked. Jonathan shrugged. "And I wouldn't cook for hobos even if it killed me."

I didn't think anyone else should get into the conversation, so I kept my voice to myself and pretended to play with my phone. "Here's the complete truth; no lies, no misunderstandings." Jonathan would never forgive himself if he let Julie go over some wacky conversation. "Of course." she smiled.

He took a deep breath, and said the words he thought he'd never say again to any girl. "I'm Jonathan Carnahan; I live in London, or did, eighty years ago. I am a lazy bum who lives off my younger sister, has no life, loves treasure hunting in Egypt, and should never be put in drastic situations, ever."

Julie looked puzzled for a moment, then squinted her eyes at the man she really liked. Then, everything fit together perfectly. "You're really from that movie Elizabeth and Michelle love!" she seemed to believe something as impossible like time travel. "Actually, we all are." Evy grinned.

Julie gasped, finally knowing who they all were. "You were always my favorite in the movies."

Rick interrupted Elizabeth's mom's realization. "And it gets better! World as we know it will cease to exist if we don't get to Egypt asap."

"That could've been you're opening statement, Jonathan." she took his hand and held it against hers. He smiled the biggest, most genuine smile any guy like him could manage.

It was almost four in the morning, and I don't think anyone could hide their yawns. "Where are we know?" Elizabeth strained to keep her head up. Alex looked at the small, dirt covered window and wiped off a small sized section to peer out of. A cloud of dust contaminated the minuscule amount of clean air we had in that plane. "I think Italy. That giant blob of lights on that pointy stick looks pretty familiar." Alex groaned.

"Lack of oxygen effecting your brain?" Evy laughed. "That blob of lights is the Eiffel Tower, we're right over France."

"Well I was getting to that." Alex scowled. "This is torture!" Rick groaned.

"The guy that can defeat a whole army by himself can't take a little bad air?" I smirked.

"No, I meant Jonathan ate all the snacks!"

Evy looked completely tired over the high in carbohydrate food obsession. "How can you think of snacks at a time like this?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "How can you not be?"

This set off a chain reaction of arguments nobody wanted to hear. "Maybe if you'd quit annoying us with that and look at what's right in front of you!" she couldn't have helped him out with it any more. Rick paused for a moment, looking right into her eyes. "You're right!" he grinned. "We still have a can of Coke Jonathan was trying to hide!"

Evy smiled both devilishly and scornfully at the same time. "I'll remember to get you a cheese burger on our anniversary." she got up in a huff and went to sit next to Izzy near the front. Rick turned around and looked cluelessly with those big, brown eyes. "What? What'd I say?"

I smirked, and whispered to Elizabeth, "That's you and Cody twenty years from now."

She threw me a horrible look as her face reddened a bit. Cody Bryant was the biggest jock at Morris High School, and I was the only one that knew of her secret crush on him. I just love to tease her about it.

"So, you must know a whole lot about archeology, going to Egypt all the time." Julie was glad she knew the real Jonathan instead of the modeling chef.

"If there's anything to do with treasure, money, gold, or curses, I'm all in." he grinned. Julie scooted closer to him, and smiled back. Elizabeth almost choked on the food she snuck in her purse. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts..." I couldn't stand to see that either. "Though they do make a cute couple Elizabeth." I said. She looked like she was about to pass out. Hearing no sarcastic response from her, I tried to apologize. "Look, I didn't mean it like that..." I stopped short when I realized she was out cold. I sure would've been if my mom was making goggly eyes at a man who is so lazy he couldn't even tie his own shoes.

I was about to close my own eyes when I heard a noise coming from the storage space under the plane. I slowly opened the hatch, and peered inside the darkness. I saw the vague outline of an eight year old girl with similar curly hair in the back. "What are you doing here?" I snapped.

Kathy crawled out to the door with a fresh scheme in mind. "Going to Jeanne's birthday party, that's what!" I hushed her down to a whisper. "Is her party across the continent?" she smirked.

"How did you get in here?"

Kathy looked annoyed of the questions. "Easy. I followed you, got in the plane, and fit myself in this tiny room. It was getting terribly stuffy in there." she grimaced. I pulled her up to her feet, wiping of all the dust from her shirt. "Mom told me to tag along with you guys and keep you out of trouble."

"You told her?" I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"Heck no, I just kept the money!" she held up twenty five dollars from her pocket. She seemed totally on a different page when she saw Alex asleep across the plane. "He looks so cute when he's sleeping!" she smiled.

I had to agree to them being a very cute couple. Her eyes glistened as she looked over at the Eiffel tower right in clear view. I put my arm around her shoulder, and began to think about what really lay ahead of us.

Elizabeth woke up with a massive head ache. "Good. You're finally up!" I laughed.

She looked confused for a moment, seeing my younger sister right beside me. "I had the strangest dream last night. There was this ugly guy who was all over my mother and it creeped me out!" she shuddered.

I looked at her skeptically. "No more pink cats? And sorry to break it to ya, but that ugly guy you mentioned is-"

Kathy pointed an amusing finger out to Jonathan. "Dang, that is a nightmare." Jonathan seemed to be pretty hurt by our last comment. "It's not my fault I'm cute!" he said defensively.

Alex gasped. "I thought that was my job!"

Evy grinned, and gave her son a hug. "You sure do that job better than him."

Annoyed with the continuing comments, Jonathan got up to see what Julie was doing. Right after he left, Rick came into the room, just coming back from his morning shower. "What took you so long?" Alex peered down at his watch to see the time was 10:15. Rick let out a lazy yawn, and took a seat next to us. "Hello donut girl and friend." I shook my head slowly.

"Wow. We've known each other for a long time now, and you still don't know my name?" Rick didn't have a reply for that one. "I always sleep in before going on a killing spree."

"You've had a lot of practice preparing for 'killing sprees'." Elizabeth put imaginary quotes around those last words. "And who said anything about killing anybody?" I folded my arms. As much as I wanted to live the life of an adventurer, now was not the time for having four guns strapped to your waist in holsters. Kathy seemed to disagree with me. "I've always wanted to blow out someone's brains!" she grinned evilly.

"Like I said, not going to happen." I took a sidestep away from her. Rick left our sides and put on one of his famous I'm sorry looks for Evy. She didn't seem easily tempted by his adorable face. I thought he must have a certain method written down somewhere on how to kiss up to your wife, and reads it though every night. He put his arm around her shoulder and wiped away some of her loose hairs from her cheek. "I've got to say, you pretty much have the apology thing down." he was overjoyed she was actually playing along. "So you wouldn't mind if we planned something once this thing is over with?" I didn't have a clue as far as Rick went with his plan. Evy got up, and stood over Rick with her arms folded, which was pretty intoxicating for him. Those skinny jeans were extremely tight, anyway. It was pretty hard to pay attention to what she was saying when she smelled like a freshly cut flower garden. Oh how different the male mind is from the females. "So," she rested her arms on his shoulders. "What if I said I was in desperate need of a snack, or a nice cup of tea?" she whispered.

Rick snapped out of his trance like the instant snap of fingers to your ear. "Said something about food?" exactly what she expected from him.

She took her arms away, and sat back down with her hands resting on her head. "I rest my case."

As cunning as Rick O'Connell was, I still think he had no idea what was going on. "Women," he groaned.

Kathy tried to hide her laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand. She shook herself out of her carefree state when she looked out of the window. "what's wrong Kathy?" Elizabeth asked. Kathy's face paled, and signaled everyone over to her side. "we're here." she breathed. The sand dunes seemed to mix into each other. I thought it was magnificent, breath taking even. That made me wonder why my little sister was so worked up. Our fate soon unveiled itself, as I saw five of Imhotep's priests trailing behind us, watching us with merciful, empty eye sockets.


	16. We Fall to our Deaths

**CHAPTER 16**

"_Is it dangerous?"_

"_Well you probably won't live through it."_

"_By jove, do you really think so?"_

"_Everyone else we've bumped into has died; why not you?"_

_-The Mummy_

What does one to at a time like this? Run- impossible when you're 400 feet in the air. Turn around and never come back- the logical choice, but would mean the bad guys take over. My life couldn't just be wasted over how cowardly I was at the time. So it was settled. I was going to follow the adventurous path; the one that could possibly kill me in the process.

There were only two people that we could turn to at a situation like this, and I could see they were already tackling the problem like professionals.

"Izzy!" Rick yelled over the commotion. "You have to lower this hunk of junk so we can get in shooting range!"

Izzy looked over his shoulder with a horrified expression on his face. "You're nuts O'Connell! Let's stay up here where they can't attack us!"

Why is it every time someone says something like that, the exact opposite happens?

A huge clang sounded from the engine room, making the tension level in that small aircraft ten times higher. Rick looked out the window worriedly, seeing an old, (but sharp) tattered sword jammed through the steel like it was paper. I never thought of all people, five dead guys could whip our butts. Egyptians have absolutely perfect aim when it comes to long distances.

The plane jolted left, and I could see a thin line of smoke through the glass. "The right engine is shot!" Izzy wailed, obviously the one that was freaking out the most. "Oh no not these guys again!" Kathy yelled.

Rick looked purely insulted at her outburst. "That's my line!"

I gave the both of them an annoyed glance, thinking of what perfect timing the mummified statues came. Evy seemed to take my side in this argument, still pissed at the men at the moment. Jonathan was with Julie at the time. He was hoping to take things to the next level one they got away from his sister and the food debate. Maybe, just maybe, Jonathan could pick up where the two of them left of. He had his arm around her, and he could tell she wanted it as much as he did. She was actually more nervous than he was, unaware of his own cowardliness. Wiping a thin layer of dust from Julie's cheek, Jonathan leaned in for the attempted kiss. Just as you'd expect, the wave from the engine bust shook the both of them around the room. Elizabeth, wanting to warn her mother, barged into the room, suddenly wishing she hadn't. Jonathan was sprawled on top of Julie, half conscious from getting whammed with a porcelain lamp. Elizabeth paused, having lost control of the movement of her legs. She managed to utter one little sentence: "every time I see you two together... I regret it so terribly more." a roar from the mummies even audible from the plane shook her back to her senses. She turned around abruptly to help the others.

"Where've you been?" I demanded, about to throw a heavy chink rope at our enemies. "Please don't ask that question." she muttered. One look at her pale face said it all. I handed her a large wooden mallet I found lying around with a smile on my face. She took it reluctantly, and timed the throwing of the object. It hit a straggling mummy right on the head, making it stumble to the sand. I gave her a high- five and scooped up some loose change from my pocket. "Good enough," I shrugged, chucking the money into the air. Rick and Evy were the only ones with actual weapons, making us look like the losers who were throwing things down just to clear the space. I pretty just wanted to get out of here alive, so if throwing coins was why I had to do, I'd do it, no problem.

Those mummies sure knew how to run fast. I backed away from the door immediately when I saw one of them carried a pointed stick, more likely to be a spear. I alerted Rick about this problem, and soon he was shooting at thing like it was the only thing between life and death, which it was at the time. No matter how good a shot O'Connell was, that mummy was better. He swerved around the bullets as if they were invisible. Rick sighed, seeing he was now out of ammo. The dead priest held up his weapon, ready for use. I couldn't tell who exactly he was pointing the spear at; though I was pretty sure it was for the man who pelted him with bullets.

"Why are there tiny ants following us?" a drowsy voice came from behind us. Elizabeth swiveled around to see Jonathan walking around like he just came back from a long night at the bar. Julie came to his aid quickly, steering him back to safety. "He's still a little..." there was no word to describe his condition. Elizabeth avoided direct eye contact. "Oh so you're still here." she folded her arms crossly. I couldn't think of a better time to have a family argument. "The ants throwing something at us." Jonathan pointed an unsteady finger at the whizzing spear that was so accurately hurled at the plane. "Um, Izzy?" we all shouted towards the captains quarters. I grabbed my sister's hand, and we both fell to the ground with our hands over our heads. The pointed stick crashed into the back of the plane, right where our heads would've been. I knew then and there we were going to crash. Just like Winston, Rick, Ardeth, and the sober Jonathan did in the first movie. "I can't control anything! We're going down!" Izzy shouted.

Alex ran to his side, followed by his parents. "We can't crash Izzy!" he cried, pushing all the buttons around his chair at the same time. "Can't you do something?" Evy really didn't like the idea of falling to her doom in the one place she loved more than anything. Kathy wasn't the type of person to panic when things went wrong. She just had to smile when she saw Alex jumping around like a scared pony. "Will you guys just stop it already? Izzy can land us on the sand, no crashing needed, we can take on those dead priests easy, then we can stop that idiotic, old man and go home for a drink of Dr. Pepper at Burger King!" everyone looked at my sister like she got hit in the head with a lamp. Alex looked pretty shocked at her courage. "I'm liking her plan guys." he tried to make his voice real deep and masculine. Izzy thought about the idea, and looked out the window. "As crazy as the girl sounds, I think she's right." Kathy grinned at everyones expression. "and I'd hurry up and do it pal." Rick said, taking Alex's hand and pushing him out the room.

"Great news everyone!" Alex used his hands to amplify his voice. I thought we could all use some good news at this point. "We are not going to crash." Kathy reassured. "Hopefully we can land this thing without any complications." I held onto that hopefully like it was the last dream I had in my mind. 'If anything, at least don't let us crash...' I squeezed my eyes shut and finished my prayer, which could have been my last for all I knew.

Our mummy friends were still tagging behind us, farther away than they were five minutes ago. "Kathy, are you sure this will work?" I was very skeptical at her master idea. She stared at me like she was about to give me the 'how can we be related' talking to. "Sometimes you just have to loosen up and have fun Michelle." she muttered.

Staring down wearily at the sand, Elizabeth took my hand in hers and shut her eyes. It felt as if you could reach your hand down, and you could pull it up finding a handful of the silky, yellow sand that covered the ground. If we weren't falling to our doom right now, I'd be in mummy heaven. "Might want to hold onto something!" I could barely hear over the pandaemonium. Everything seemed to slow down all of a sudden. It was then I couldn't tell if I was shaking of fear or ambition. I just felt a slam that could have sent a building crumbling to the Earth, a slam that you get when you fall off the monkey bars, that made you feel like crap afterwords. I felt for Elizabeth's hand, but it was nowhere to be found. I was, we were all, buried under more and more rubble; the sand flowing in around us like a blanket of hot ashes.


	17. We Get Ambushed by the Undead

**CHAPTER 17**

"_Know this: This creature is a bringer of death; it will never eat, never sleep, it will never stop."_

_ -The Mummy_

I actually thought it would be more painful than it was. Surprisingly, I could feel both my arms and my legs. I wiped the sand from my eyes and dared to open them. Sand. Everywhere. My best friend was a few feet away, lying on top of what I thought was half a chair. The scene around me finally began to take life. Izzy shook the soot from his pilot hat and looked around. He laughed his 'we made it out alive' laugh when he saw the airplane was somewhat in tact. Rick picked himself up and gave his friend a slap on the back. "You actually did it!" he seemed really surprised about it. Elizabeth groaned, looking around at everyone else. Her mother, Alex, and of course Jonathan, were all sand covered, but apparently all alive, much to Elizabeth's pleasure. "wait-" she started, seeing one person was missing from our group of misfit British adventurers. "Hey Evy?" Rick was wondering where the heck his angry but beautiful wife was. "A little help?" a muffled voice came from a mound of sand that went up to my waist. Rick reached his arm into the monstrous pile and yanked it back up, revealing a sandy version of his lovely wife. Evelyn wiped the dirt from her eyes and glared at Rick. "I almost suffocated in that pile of evil, disgusting sand!" saying so she spit more and more of it out of her mouth. Alex let out a slight laugh as he saw his mother looking like she came out of one of Egypt's causal dust-storms. "I. Hate. That. Sand." she seemed to be in desperate need of a good old hug. Kathy, coming in to check on Alex, had other things on her mind when she joined us. "You do realize we have four or five mummies who want to kill us on our tail, right?"  
>That seemed to get all of us back to earth. "Yes, we were getting to that, thank you." I sighed.<br>Out of fear, Elizabeth dared to look into the sand. Sure enough, through the hazy dust came the five priests sent by our dear friend the Curator. "What's the plan?" was the question wringing in everyone's ears. And of course, Rick O'Connell had an answer. Knowing him all too well, I knew what his answer would be, and I didn't like it. "Look, we're out of guns, bullets, any sort of weapon!" Elizabeth knew what his plan was also. He looked at us skeptically. "I know that."  
>"Then what's our plan?"<br>"Run! That's what!"  
>We all took off at once, the undead creatures hot on our tail. "This is your plan?" I wheezed, breathing like I just finished a 5 kilometer race. That didn't sound like the O'Connell I hung out with for three weeks. The sand was so hot it burned the rubber soles of my shoes. The air so thick it clogged my throat. How the Foreign Legionnaires did this is past my understanding.<br>"I'm tired!" Alex tugged on his mother's cardigan. "I'm hot!" Izzy added in.  
>"I don't wanna go anymore!" Jonathan groaned. Evy glanced at him annoyingly, wishing for the thousandth time they weren't related. "Ok, you can stop and get ripped apart by our new friends, fine by me." Even Jonathan knew that was a horrible idea.<br>"I can't believe you dragged me into this Elizabeth!" Was Jonathan really that cute in her mom's eyes?  
>"honey-" Even Evy couldn't keep up the running in the desert, well thought out plan created by her husband. "Is this really your plan?"<br>Before Rick could think of a reasonable answer, a pair of think, meaty arms went around his body, making him completely unable to fight back. Soon all of us were under the control of the five mummies that've been following us since yesterday. The strange thing is, they didn't kill us right then and there. Instead they were holding us against our will. Maybe mummy soldiers are only violent and hostile on television.  
>The wind began to pick up, making it harder to see. I shut my eyes to avoid the painful stinging. I couldn't see anyone else, but I knew they probably felt as bad as I did. "Thanks for the genius plan mate." Izzy grumbled.<br>Rick gave him a confused look, because he had no idea what he was saying. Probably for the better. The carefree moment was soon gone with the wind.  
>The outline of a figure appeared right in front of us. And I had a feeling who that figure could be. Since running was impossible, we were stuck with the bad guy. "I see you met my new friends." the Curator smirked. I held up my hands to my ear. "Repeat that?"<br>Now we were all confused. It was one of those awkward moments where everything went completely silent. Even the desert crickets didn't dare make a sound. "Enough!" he bellowed. "Guards! Take them inside!" Perhaps those mummies had super hearing powers. They immediately began hauling us to an unknown destination. "Elizabeth! You are totally grounded when we get home!" Julie screamed at her only daughter.  
>At first, I saw nothing. I couldn't see anything but barren wasteland at all angles. I was beginning to think the Curator had finally lost his marbles. The book was firmly in his arms. Fighting back was a useless attempt. As dead those mummies were, they had a very strong and slightly painful grasp.<br>"Now you will see what true power I bestow." the old man seemed to be enjoying our confused faces as to what 'bestow' really meant. The Curator stopped dead in front of us. Bending down, he wiped the sand away to reveal a silver bottom. He knocked the hard ground to clarify. I had a feeling that there was something down there we weren't seeing. Curator said something in Egyptian to his soldiers, probably a 'get these annoying people in this creepy room beneath the ground and out of sight' command. They picked us up once again and used their strength to force the silver (which I found out was a door) door off of its hinges. And before I knew what was happening, we went inside the lair.

It was so dark down in that secret room, I couldn't see anything. Even if someone stuck their hand right in front of my face. We were all stuffed in a tiny staircase descending into; you guessed it, more and more darkness. You don't know how hard it is to go down a fight of stairs with the walls closing in on you and ten people breathing on your back. Not to mention the five mummies following us from behind. I pondered the idea of sneaking back to the door with Elizabeth, but that fizzled out when the curator made our only exit disappear right before our eyes.  
>He knows us so well.<br>"Hurry up!" the Curator shouted at us. The tone of his voice startled me. I was relieved I couldn't see his face, because it would've been scary. I felt around the walls for guidance, careful not to step on anybody's toes. Izzy was muttering a bunch of death threats towards Rick, not to mention thousands of expressive words I didn't know existed in the dictionary. I couldn't see or hear anything else in the room; I guess everyone else just figured it was a waste of time. And I wasn't about to join Izzy with his terrible mouth, so I decided to keep quiet and do what the crazy man said. Did this staircase go on forever? It seemed as though we've been climbing down them forever. I jumped when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Since I was pretty much the one trailing behind, I pulled it out and checked my messages. New message from Elizabeth. It read: 'this is all our fault, isn't it?'  
>I thought about what she said. This whole thing was our fault. If it weren't for us, the O'Connell's would still be in London, Izzy would be working on his balloon, and Julie wouldn't be totally in love with Jonathan. Why did the Mummy have to be the best show in the world? I responded, 'i guess it is, but what can we do?'<br>"Ouch!" Evy screamed. I heard a loud slap, then silence from the troublemaker. "You stepped on my foot you idiot!" I decided to take a step back from them as I put all my attention back to the IPhone. 'I'm scared.' Elizabeth texted back. A wave of sorrow went through me. Enough of blaming the both of is for what happened; it was all because of me. I guess I hadn't realized how much I really wanted all of this. That made me look like a total jerk. 'Me 2. Don't worry I'll get us out of this.'  
>My eyes were glued on the screen, not knowing where I was going. My foot, expecting to land on the next stair, fell through the air unexpectedly and onto the floor. Now I could be a jerk that just embarrassed herself in front of everybody. "They don't have neon 'watch your step' signs on these things." Julie tried her hardest not to bust out laughing. "Yah, thanks." I grumbled. Sarcasm wasn't my thing at the moment.<br>The Curator glared at Elizabeth when he saw her phone out. With a snap of his fingers, the IPhone disappeared from her fingers and instantly into his. "That's a fifth generation touch screen phone! And it's mine!" she gets irritated when people mess with her technology. The Curator grinned as he searched through her playlist. "Avril Levine? Taylor Swift? And what's this? Lady Gaga? I have to get me one of these!" he seemed to forget ever dragging us down here to kill us. I felt bad he took her phone and not mine. Not like I'd just hand him my cell phone with a smile on my face.  
>The soldier mummies seemed confused as their master became lost in the modern world. One stepped forward towards him and said something in Egyptian. From his startled expression, the mummy must've said it pretty harsh. He slipped the phone into his robes, leaving the pictures on the screen for future purposes. "You can set them down over there, so they have the perfect view of the world's destruction." I could sense a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Before any of us could refuse front row seats, we were all pushed into these extremely uncomfortable chairs. We all struggled, but there was no use. Some kind of field prevented us from escape. Almost as if it were magic!<br>The Curator seemed pretty used to the Book of the Dead, knowing most of its deepest secrets. I was actually beginning to worry that he could pull it off. The old little minion of a deceased priest was now a ruthless killer of his own. Oh, please think of something fast before he destroys us all! I told myself. Elizabeth seemed to be thinking the same thing, and I could tell she too was blank. I had no choice but to resort to the man who could not only shoot his way out of a situation, but eat himself out as well. O'Connell was rummaging through his pockets, which was pretty hard with the limited mobility we had. I could tell he had something up his sleeve. Now all we had to do was wait for the right moment to act.  
>Remember the whole 'patience is a virtue' saying from the first movie? Try having that motive in your head while listening to pages and pages of hieroglyphics for hours at a time. I would've been fast asleep if it wasn't for the adrenaline pumping through my system. I didn't think any of us could understand anything that guy was saying, except for Evy, who, by the look on her face, thought it was pretty bad. None of us had the nerve to speak. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my little sister droop her head slightly, resting on Izzy's shoulder. Alex wasn't that far behind either. Jonathan looked restless, probably longing for that showgirl of his. "Excuse me, but can I possibly get some popcorn, or a good drink around here?" Jonathan finally blurted out. That question was most likely floating through his mind ever since we arrived in Egypt. One of the mummies gave him a glare with those stone eyes, followed by an ear popping roar. That sure shut him up.<p>

So this is what our wonderful mummy adventure resulted in. The nine of us watching the world come to an end in the most uncomfortable seats ever made. I felt bad for letting Elizabeth's mother and my little sister get into this mess. There has to be something... Anything.  
>I was gathering my thoughts together wham suddenly, the Curators voice stopped. The air around me seemed to turn into ice. I could tell there was something was wrong.<br>Terribly wrong.  
>The Curator jolted as if volts of electricity shot through his veins. He lifted his hands slowly, examining his new powers. He gave all of us an evil smile. A burst of light more powerful than anything I've seen before blinded me from him. Then, as quickly as it came, everything was back to its usual state. But that wasn't the case.<br>The Curator was gone.

I stretched my hand out, half expecting it to get an electric shock or something. Instead, my arm just slid silently through the air. Nothing there at all. A quick look around at everyone else told me that I wasn't the only one completely caught off guard. Maybe the Curator decided to have some pity on the gloomy bunch of Brits. Boy, he was wrong. Now was the time for a great idea to pop up into my mind. Rick looked up, bewildered as to what just happened. The whole flashy light thing was pretty scary. "Where'd he..." his voice trailed off. I saw Alex's face pale as stared through the lovely hole the Curator made in the ceiling. A slight "umm..." was forced out of his lips as he pointed upward towards it. The gigantic ball of light surrounding the Curator was high in the sky. Before any of our questions could be asked, Evy answered them all. "his power is almost completely full, the only way to stop him is to penetrate his magic bubble of evil, and Jonathan... No we will not be stopping for snacks on our way." That basically covered everything. "Wait- how do we get up there in a couple minutes?" Elizabeth shrieked. Guess I forgot one. Evy shrugged. "That could be an issue."  
>As I always say, when the going gets tuff, watch the Mummy and everything will turn out fine. <em>Wow, that's genius for this situation.<em> _Wait! That's it!_ I just love when my thoughts finally have a breakthrough. Right after Rick gives Izzy the gold stick, he takes them to his airplane- no it wasn't an airplane- it was, in fact, a derigable, a balloon! Then Rick says, "Izzy you were right. You're gonna get shot!"  
>It was absolutely perfect. Once I explained my plan to everyone else, we all seemed to be in an agreement. Never before has my brilliance shown so bright in a dire situation like this. Only Izzy seemed to have a problem with it. "My blimp isn't done yet!"<br>I exchanged looks with Elizabeth, asking for conformation. She nods. The god of death and funerals probably wants to see me fall to my doom a lot more than opt to help us once again. Shutting my eyes, I tried to remember the hooded figure in my dream not to long ago. "what?" the raspy voice came into my head. I could tell he was in the middle of something. Maybe clubbing with Horus, or over at Osiris's house planning a vacation. "heard that."  
>"sorry Anubis, I was just wondering, if, well, we need to borrow Izzy's finished blimp from The Magic Carpet Airways in Egypt for a moment." I was surprised I could remember all of that. After a long pause, Anubis answered. "Sure whatever just leave me alone for once!" No promises there. "I have to get back to judging the fates of poor human souls."<br>"Sounds like a blast."  
>I gave Izzy a thumbs up, signaling that the balloon he requested has arrived. "I'm still not sure-"<br>"do it or you're gonna get shot!"


	18. Izzy Crashes Yet Another Aircraft

**CHAPTER 18**

"_Right. She's a reincarnated princess, and I'm a warrior for God."_

_-The Mummy Returns_

**J**ust as we had hoped for, waiting outside for us was the tattered hunk of wood. Izzy beamed at his new invention, turning to Rick and giving him a satisfactory smile. "isn't it just beautiful?" he sighed.

Rick looked less enthusiastic. "Where's your airplane?" _Boy,_ I thought, _Déjà VO!_ "Airplanes are a thing of the past!" before Rick could say anything else, Elizabeth put a stop to it. "You two boys can continue this rousing conversation another time, okay?" Izzy grunted, secretly thanking her inside for saving him from another one of O'Connell's lashes.

"Now are we going in or not?" I redirected everyone's attention back to the balloon. By the expression on Alex's face, I could tell he was thinking this was some kind of joke and was waiting for someone to burst out laughing. "Izzy," Julie spoke out finally. "Are you saying this little wooden boat is going to get us up that high?"

I turned to her direction. "This 'little wooden boat' is going to save our lives!"

"And you'd be surprised about how fast this thing goes." Elizabeth added. Everyone still seemed unconvinced. If only we could've gotten to watch the second movie. That would sure change their minds!

I took Kathy's hand in mine, hoisting her up into Izzy's blimp. Once everyone was aboard the S.S. Doomsday, Izzy took the controls. "how do you work this thing?" Izzy wailed. He, of all people. Everyone looked at him like they just got smacked with a shovel. "You're asking us?" Both Evy and Julie demanded. "You're the pilot for cripes' sake!" wonder if Jeanne is having fun with Ardeth right now. Meanwhile we're on a wooden ship that could fall apart at a pin drop, trying to stop a psychotic man floating inside a bubble from dominating the world. Fun, right?

As embarrassing as that sounds, I'd rather survive and be known as the mummy girl that saved the day than the idiot that ruined the sequel to the best franchise in the world. When everyone was safely on the derigable, Rick took out his biggest knife, cutting the rope that held it to the ground. Elizabeth and I just had to laugh at everyone's facial expression when they realized how fast it could go. Never doubt the knowledge of two teenagers. Even Izzy seemed surprised. "Turbo busters?" he laughed, "I must be some kind of mad genius!"

Alex tried to smile, but soon he was cracking up. "Yah, right!"

"Hey!"

Izzy folded his arms and focused back on steering.

When the blazing light came into view, it looked more blinding than I expected it. I would rather have a staring contest with the sun than take a glance at the Curators evil magic. Even with my hands shielding my eyes, I'm pretty sure I'll be blind for the rest of the week. "is this on purpose?" Kathy grimaced. Pretty sure it was.

From what I could kind of see, the Curator still didn't notice us. Maybe the rays of light were bugging him as much as they were us. Izzy was still ascending higher, and closer, to our target. He was grinning at the rest of us with a pair of dark sunglasses on. I guess he found his chance with O'Connell preoccupied.

When we were almost eye level with the Curator, Rick pulled out his switchblade, aiming right for his head. Evy, seeing this went over and grabbed it out of his hands. "Sorry, not going to work this time." she said. He sighed, completely out of ideas. "You got anything better?" Evy shook her head slowly. Jonathan went over to his sister to ask the same thing. "What can we do to get this over with faster?"

"Do you think I have super powers Jonathan? I can't shoot this thing with lasers."

"Well, you're the smart one sis!" He probably took that as 'I don't have a clue' because he walked away looking really nervous. Julie saw his face and gave him a sad smile. "There's still hope." she took his hand in hers. Elizabeth was too fed- up to care at this point. Jonathan looked into the deep, ice blue pools of her eyes. "Look, if we don't make it out of here-" Julie leaned forward and kissed him. I almost fell over with my light headedness when I saw them. In a way I was happy for Jonathan. Unlike my best friend, I think they'll make an adorable couple. You know, if we survive and all. "I hope there's still hope out there." Jonathan whispered. Julie seemed confused. "So we can do that again." she grinned, and gave him a hug. "You know what they say, about dying in the arms of the people you love." Now I'm starting to side with Elizabeth. That can creep you out if you're around for more than five minutes.

The Curator turned around to see the nine of us flying in am oversized helium balloon charging towards him at a remarkable speed. We couldn't hide from him forever. He gave all of us another one of his creepy evil smiles, and I could tell he was about to do something bad. "I knew you were going to try and stop me one of these days." he snarled at us. "Try?" Izzy grinned, "All we have to do is... Is break that bubble of yours!"

The Curator laughed. "This bubble is unbreakable, genius!"

"Oh! It would break once it saw how ugly your face is!" Some people are great at throwing burns. Izzy is not a part of that group. Elizabeth and I went over and patted him on the shoulder. "Leave the trash talk to Rick, okay big guy?" Izzy scowled, but reluctantly nodded in agreement. I walked briskly over to Rick, Elizabeth close at hand. "What do you think he'll do to us?" we both asked.

He looked at us and sighed. "I don't know Donut Girl. But we better think up something fast."

Apparently, that was enough to set the Curator off. Or maybe he was just aching to try out his powers. Because at that moment, the worst case scenario happened. Right before my eyes, flames leapt out of thin air. It took only moments for them to meet the surface of the dry, gullible wood, instantly making a full blown fire on our blimp.

We were going down.

Fast.


	19. I Save the Day

**CHAPTER 19**

"_Have you no respect of the dead?"_

"_Yes, of course I do! But sometimes I wish to join them."_

_-The Mummy_

**A**long with the intense heat, thick black smoke filled the empty spaces. My eyes stung, making my vision blur around me. Even though my head was dizzy, I felt my instinct take me running to find my little sister. I eventually found her bent over the side of the blimp, most likely puking. Despite the puking, she looked alright. Although it's hard to tell when I can barely see her through the smoke. I yelled her name and grabbed her hand, heading back to the others. She, always being the brave one, startled me with her distraught face. "the thing is coming down real fast Michelle!" she pointed towards the ground. She added, "we're going to die, aren't we?"

I wanted to sit her down and say everything is okay, but for one, that is completely false. Secondly, I realized we didn't have the time. Overhead, the sail swayed back and forth, almost engulfed in the quick spreading blue and yellow flames. Sparks flew everywhere, and I could barely see the faint outline of Izzy, still untouched by the wildfire. He was working his butt off trying to keep us in the air. By the looks of things, I would say we only had five minutes or so until we all died. Kathy tugged on my sleeve, indicating it was time to bolt out of here ASAP. There was a narrow strip of wood the fire hasn't gotten to near us, but above us there was the bottom half of the ships mast, wedged between two polls. Any moment, they would give way. Blocking our only way back. Ducking my head, I pushed all my fears aside and ran. Kathy right beside me. I could feel the extreme heat on my hair, the burning feeling in my ears. As I looked ahead of me, I saw our window of opportunity was closing quickly. The mast was slipping faster to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the both of us would be incinerated. I thought of my mother, of how she had the idea me and Kathy was at a birthday party. Of how much she and my father care for us. Of how much they would hate me if I let my sister die. I couldn't let that happen. Not to Kathy. She deserves a fighting chance.

With all my might, I pushed her ahead of me, sending her through the opening without any harm. Inches away from her, I saw the beam finally give way. It crashed to the ground seconds after I slid my way past.

The smoke filled my lungs, begging me to put clean air back into my system. We were all standing close together, surrounded by flames that reached higher than any of our heads. The noise that would haunt me for a long time after this was the intense coughing and the crackling taunts of the fire. Julie continued to stay by Jonathan's side, while holding her daughter close for comfort. Evy was doing the same with Alex, both of their expressions distraught with fear. Rick was in the middle of a panic session with Izzy, trying to figure out how to operate the zeppelin. So far they haven't been doing that well. Because the thing was still lowering by the second. I knew time wasn't in our favor at this moment. Pulling my mind back together, I tried devising my own plan. I took out my cell phone and dialed the only number I knew would be of some help in our situation.

"Hello? Michelle, that you?" Ardeth Bay's voice came through the receiver faintly. I put him on speaker, though it didn't help with the sound quality, and motioned to Elizabeth. Breaking free of her mother's grasp, she ran over to me with terrified eyes. "You got Jeanne on the phone?" she yelled. Even though she was only a few feet away from me, I couldn't hear her at all. All I could do is nod yes and turn back to the IPhone. "Ardeth? We need advice!" my voice level was almost at a scream.

"Advice?" he repeated.

"Preferably how to stop an evil guy from taking over the world!" Elizabeth said. "Right now he's in a bubble fifty feet in the air and about to zap the world into destruction!"

"Well..." Ardeth stretched out, "there is this Medjai tale about-"

"-listen! We're up in flames! In a minute or so we'll be dead!" we both shouted. "Michelle? Why are you bombarding Ardeth with these stupid questions?" a new voice sounded.

"Jeanne!" we shouted irritably. She was the last person on the face of the earth I wanted to talk to. "Well there's nothing I can do!" she said after we explained the situation again. "Sorry, but I don't know how to help you. You're my friends. Maybe all this Mummy stuff is putting a hole in your head." I wanted to chuck my phone at her head. But I knew she was right. There's nothing she could do for us. Then it hit me. A hole. Everything has a weak spot, an Achilles heel. This sudden realization was good enough for me.

"Chink," I said to myself. It was brilliant. To put my thought into action, first I glanced up at the blaring light generated by the Curator. He looked like he was having a blast watching us die. To my luck, just in view was a small, clear cut square. With careful aiming, someone could knock the book right off the bubble thing. Thus ending the evil the curator has in mind for everyone. There was only one person I trusted with such a responsibility. Rick O'Connell. Leaving my sister behind me, I took off towards the controls. Completely out of breath, I reached the door to the room. When I pulled on the door, I realized it was jammed. Great. To the left of this door was a huge glass window. I banged on the door, trying to get their attention. Despite the commotion outside, the two turned their heads around to see a sweaty teenager with black smoke and who knows what all over her face. Izzy looked forensic. That's when I saw the smoke edging towards the fuel tanks. Even though I couldn't hear him, I could tell it was only a matter of seconds before it blew up. I gestured for Rick to get out to the rest of us, but the door wouldn't budge for him either. Annoyed, he clenched his hands into fists and broke the glass. I pulled him through the space between us, wiping shards of glass from both of our clothes. Izzy was practically stomping on the fire to keep it away. That's when I began to wonder how badly this could affect the actual movie. Millions upon millions of people disappointed to see Izzy all broken up, dead even, along with the small amount of survivors. All thanks to me. 'Michelle Daniels: Girl who ruined the dreams and hopes of many'. Let me tell you; that is not good for your reputation.

Izzy's wails brought me back to reality. I shook my head clear of thoughts, and filled Rick in with my idea. Having absolutely no time to consider, he took my hand and started towards the port end of our blimp. Before we made it though, I instinctively pulled away. I don't care how much time I have! I thought, my sister needs to see me one last time. Rick had a look of understanding in his eyes. I knew more than anything he wanted to do the same with his family.

He nodded his head, letting go of my grasp. Do I really want to be the person who saves the day, ridicules evil? Or the person who covers in fear while others take the glory? Before I could answer this, a wall of fire was suddenly set ablaze between us. I had no choice but to return to where the others lay, awaiting their deaths. I saw the look on Kathy's face. It wasn't a look of fear, but a look of courage. Directed at no one else but me. More fire separated us. It was between me, O'Connell, and the Curator. That was it. I ran to the opposite end of the ship, enveloped by scorching heat. I saw clearly ricks face. He seemed to he pointing to me. No, not me. My fingers clasped around the silver frame of a spear. What was once seconds seemed like long minutes. Everything seemed eerily muted; if this was my mind or the Curators doing, I couldn't tell.

With all my might I threw the spear.

You know the scene from the Mummy Returns? The one where everyone and everything is on the verge of collapsing. Where everything your life has to offer is in the balance. The Scorpion King has Rick pinned; preparing for the final blow. Everyone helpless. The spear cuts through the air, slowly revolving towards its target. But this isn't watching it on a television screen. This is real. My time to shine.

I don't know how I did it, but I'm watching the silvery spear glide into his hands. He only has time to send me a small smile of approval before he throws it into the air. And I thought perfect accuracy twice in a row was only in the movies. A sound as if a bomb was triggered rung in my ears. A jolt of radiant energy brushed through my body. I heard the painful yells coming from the bubble, which looked like the weight of a pin could cause it explode. Thinking the Curator was dead, I glanced down for any evidence. Nothing. Something inside me said that fate had another course for him; back in 1932, that is. I faintly recall seeing absolutely no trace of fire among Izzy's blimp. Happy arms embracing me.

All the rest was a blur.


	20. New Boyfriends and Black Beans

**CHAPTER 20**

"_Prince Imhotep thanks you for your hospitality. And for your eyes… and your tongue… but I am afraid more is needed. The prince must finish the job."_

_-The Mummy_

**"W**here have you been?" my mother cried as soon as the dirigible landed back in London. I, still flustered from the intensity of Egypt, annoyingly pushed her arms away from me. "I'm fine!" I sighed. Her concern quickly turned into anger. "What were you thinking? Are you hurt? Why'd you do it?" these questions buzzed around my head like a swarm of bees. Right now, I'd rather be watching Nickelodeon at a casual summer sleepover; not on a haywire mummy adventure. "Can you just take us home?" I groaned.

"I would love to think it was that easy, Michelle." My mother seemed to share my attitude about the situation. "what about them?" she turned her attention to Izzy sitting in the cockpit, Rick, Evy, and Alex sitting next to us, and my best friends mother's new boyfriend. My mom sighed at her thoughts, pulling me and Elizabeth out of the plane. "Let's go!" she waved her hand out towards the rest of the gang. "The paparazzi will be here any moment."

"Paparazzi?" I repeated wearily. My mother reluctantly held up a copy of the daily newspaper.

It read:

Missing teenage girls fly a unauthorized blimp with four passengers and stop a mysterious man from stealing an important Egyptian artifact.

Elizabeth looked up, terrified. "What will we say about..." she pointed behind her. I was thinking the exact same thing. All I knew was that we were already in major trouble. The both of us grabbed hold of everyone's hands and steered them towards the car. Evy looked back at the ancient Book of the Dead. Reluctantly, I crawled back into the stuffy cargo hold and pulled the book out.

We were in arms length of the car doors when photographers spilled out into the street. Flashes fogged my vision, and the swarms re- entered my head. "is it true? Why? How?" These questions were almost shouted into my ears. I felt the unfamiliar closeness to all the strangers around me that wanted my picture for the next Tabloid magazine. All I remember that day was seeing my mother look down at me with a terrified glimpse in her eyes; seeing my exhausted body sprawled out on the pavement.

When I blinked my eyes open, I found myself around my usual surroundings. My Mummy DVD's still lay by my bedside, my clock above my head, and my laptop sitting across from me with its usual blank screen. "Are you alright?" a voice said comfortably from an unknown source. I was suddenly brought back to reality. My father stood beside my beside my bed with a worried look on his face. "Daddy?" I said weakly. I've waited weeks to see his face again. Filled with joy, I found my energy and threw my arms around his neck. "I thought you wouldn't be back for another two weeks!" I grinned.

"I think the Big Apple can deal without me for now." he looked glad to be home. "And besides, once they see that five IPhones are missing from my department, they won't be pleased." my dad gave me a accusing glance. Before I could reply, there was a knock at the door. It opened abruptly, revealing Elizabeth, along with everyone else, all with relieved faces. "She's okay!" Elizabeth sounded like she'd been waiting a while. "Thank goodness!" Jonathan clasped his hand around Julie's, making her disgusted daughter take a big step forward. "What would we have done without you?" Rick said with a box of donuts under his arm. I realized I should've hidden those more carefully. My father sighed, and turned to the troublesome visitors. "Now for the questions, Michelle. Who are they and what do they have to do with this whole dilemma?" He was now reverted back to his uncool, lecturing dad mode. At this point, I had absolutely no more lies inside of me. "You gotta believe me dad," I tried to sound the words carefully. "They are my friends, not just any people around here." I got up from my cozy bedsheets and was quickly be their sides. I gestured to Alex first. "An eight year old boy with no desire to listen to his parents. But is positively the smartest boy I know." Now it was Izzy's turn.

"A pilot who will do anything for golden statues, who builds odd but useful objects." I then debated on what to say about the family clown. "A man who would pay me to tell you he was a male model from Italy just to interest a girl..." I've only spent three weeks with the guy, and I could talk someone's ear off about Jonathan Carnahan's numerous failures. "But has his heart in the right place." I gave him a smile. "And lastly," I started towards the two people that started it all. "A librarian who's an excellent archeologist. One that can literally say that history takes you places. Who, despite her huge amount of knowledge, couldn't write a book if it killed her." I took in a deep breath, and gave myself a smile for my excellent progress. Even though I was terribly tired of the whole re- capping thing, I had the strength for one more. "a gun fighter, treasure seeker, explorer, adventurer, all the above, who will eat anything available. Who can have the funniest jokes, and can take care of himself... Without a butler or a bigger house." I caught myself before I was on another rampage. My dad stood silent for a moment, probably still processing what I just said. He finally tilted his head to look me straight in the eyes. "you expect me to believe you three hooked up with the O'Connell's?" The way he put it made us sound kind of crazy. I was surprised he remembered that much from the movie. "Yes." I knew my dad couldn't think of a better explanation. He looked at me skeptically. "So, what if they're the O'Connell's? You think that makes up for traveling halfway around the world with your little sister? What are we supposed to say to the media?" These were the questions I too wanted answers for. The room filled with an uncomfortable silence and the O'Connell's felt it more than any of us. I knew my father was just aching to erupt at me. "We're... Just gonna get a hotel somewhere..." Evy was the only one willing to break the unbearable silence. I turned to her with an assured smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll figure something out. You guys have already done enough." The teenage side of me wanted to throw a fit at my parents. But what good would that do? My mother spoke from behind me. "Why don't you take your new friends to the door so we can finish this delightful conversation?" she then turned to Julie and Elizabeth. "Thanks for coming at such short notice. We owe you one Julie." I wanted everyone to stay more than anything, but suddenly rebelling didn't seem like a good idea. Elizabeth looked at the look in Jonathan's eye as he stared at her mother. "You're staying in that hotel with everyone else mister!" He sighed, and reluctantly gave her mothers hand a soft squeeze. "I'll be seeing you two later," Jonathan slowly released his grasp and followed the others out the door. With everyone gone, I felt my misery sweep in. I slumped down back in my bed and felt hot tears coming in. It wasn't like me to cry. But I just couldn't help it. My life was a complete disaster. "What do I do now?" I whispered to my mother. She gave a sympathetic glance towards my father. He sighed, and gave me a pat on the shoulder. Yah, dad. Like that'll make me feel better. "Everything will be okay sweetheart. Your mother and I have a surprise for you." That sure stopped the crying. "We were going to wait for your birthday, but I think you deserve it now." my mother combed her fingers through my hair. "Let me make a quick phone call." my dad said, taking my mom with him.

With the promises of a surprise, I fell right asleep.

Elizabeth unlocked the front door, and slowly entered the kitchen. Her mother was already sitting by the fireplace, starting a book Jonathan had given her. "Wonder if he called back yet." she muttered. Her daughter's problems seemed to fade away.

"Hasn't he called enough?" Elizabeth smirked, seeing a pamphlet for Sunny side casino Jonathan must've left behind from his last visit. Julie looked up from her book, sensing Elizabeth's discomfort. "I'm sorry, sweetie." she said softly. The dreadful memories of her mother kissing the guy who hits on dead people came flooding back. "It's fine mum," she reassured. "You two seem happy together."

Her mother got up and gave Elizabeth a hug. "I'm gonna take a nap." she announced tiredly. "There's food in the fridge!" she eagerly took a piece of cake from the table and left the room. Elizabeth took a browning banana from the pantry and rested on her favorite chair. For a moment, everything seemed back to normal. Like she was waiting for her mum to come home from work so she could stop by my house for a visit. Of course, everything was definitely not normal. Even the word abnormal just didn't cut it.

The doorbell made its famous chime heard around the house. Thinking right a way that it was the O'Connell's, Elizabeth jumped up and opened the door. She almost dropped her rotten fruit when she saw who was really in front of her. "Hey." Said a guy no other than Cody Bryant himself. The most popular guy at their high school. The guy who she had a crush on for almost three years and counting. Starting when they were chemistry partners as seventh graders. "what are you doing here?" Elizabeth finally croaked out. His smile made her choke for words. She smiled weakly, and allowed him inside. "I heard about what you and your friend did, saving the world in all. I thought you were pretty brave."

Elizabeth twirled her hair around her finger slowly, trying to smile her cutest smile. "and I was thinking... Maybe sometime you could come over and tell me about it. You know, if you'd be up to it." Cody leaned forward and took her hand. Elizabeth was worried she'd end up fainting onto the tile floor. Cody Bryant! The Cody Bryant just asked me out! She dazed. Then she remembered he was still standing next to him. "Well, okay." she grinned, trying to sound better than the stupefied sixteen year old she was inside. "I mean... I'll see if I can work something out."

"Great." Cody bent forward and kissed her hand gently. "I'll pick you up at eight."

The Sunny- Side hotel and casino just got four new customers. Lucky them. "Rick, are you sure this place is safe enough for Alex?" Evy stayed close to his side. The front entrance happened to be where the casino was. And the casino didn't look like much fun. Unless you think sweaty, fat thugs with tattoos put spontaneously on every visible part of skin is fun. The air smelled partly of strong liquor, and partly of sweaty, fat man smell. Rick smirked. "Jonathan promised he'd wash the car every week for the rest of his life if we got this place."

Evy turned to her brother. "really? Fine, but not after nine." Jonathan started to protest, but Evy held her hand up to stop him. "this place is starting to make me sick."

Alex smiled. "so this is what it looks like!"

"what what looks like?"

He let out a big sigh. "manhood, mum. This... is what manhood feels like." She rolled her eyes at her eight year old son. "yes. And if you turn into one of these when you grow up, mum's not to let you in the house!"

"she's right you know." Jonathan muttered. Evy grinned. Soon, they were at the front desk. "finally." Evy said, while coughing all the smoke from her lungs. "we have a reservation. Should be under my husbands name." The guy standing there had a glazed look in his eyes, remaining unresponsive. "hullo?" Alex waved his hand in front of his face. Nothing happened. "how many fingers am I holding up?" she held up three of her fingers. The man fixed his eyes on her. Finally, he let out, "tee-hee... You're cute!" Evy pursed her lips together and glared at Jonathan. She mouthed something like, "you owe me, big time."

"we'll just find it ourselves. You... Take care of yourself, okay?" She grabbed Alex by the hand and stormed off.

If you thought that was bad, then seeing the room will be a real treat. (If you even want to call it a room, that is!) No one was too surprised when they walked into a smelly, disgusting, tiny room filled with the high chance of roaches and vermin. Evy just clapped her hands together and faced Jonathan. "you're washing the car twice a week."

Alex let out a sigh when he saw the room. "but mum, there's only two beds!" And they weren't terribly big, either. "that's easy," Rick folded his arms. "your mother and I will take this one, and-"

"No! I will not share a bed with him again!" Alex pointed towards his uncle accusingly. "Last time he hogged the whole thing! Why can't you stay with him mum?" She let out a cold laugh.

"Yah. That's definitely not going to happen."

Alex turned to his father. Rick put a hand on his shoulder. "There are some disadvantages to being eight." He glowered back at Jonathan.

"You people win this round, but just wait,"

Jonathan didn't look pleased. But sleeping next to a boy was way better than sleeping next to his bloody sister. Now that he was thinking about it, it's a pure blessing he didn't have to share a bed with sir snores- a- lot over there. "Now that we have this situation figured out, I think I'm gonna go try to get that million dollar prize down at the casino." Nobody seemed too sad to see him go. The room filled with complete boredom. "Hey dad, give me a few pounds so I can get something from the vending machines." Rick stuck his hand in his front pocket and fished out come loose change. "Knock yourself out," Alex grinned, and took off for the stairs. Evy went over and sat down on one of the beds. Her expression turned confused as she moved around on it. "Seems really lumpy, don't you think?" Rick sat down next to her, and lifted up the mattress. Thousands of little black objects fell onto the floor. "What the blazes are those things?" Evy shrieked. Rick bent over and picked one up. "Don't touch it!" she demanded, moving slightly in the opposite direction of the odd black thing in his hand. "Relax!" he started to laugh. "There just black beans."

"Beans. Stuffed in a mattress?"

"Odd, but it could've been worse."

"Jonathan had to choose this one."

"Is it too late to say I hate this hotel?"

"You and me both."

Rick put his arm around her, and Evy pulled away. "You haven't been really nice to me since we left." She folded her arms crossly.

"Oh common, you know sometimes I get a tad bit edgy when trying to save the world!"

Evy just lay back onto the beany bed. "Do you wish...? I mean, coming here, was it a mistake?" Rick thought for a moment, and then laid down next to her. "Homesick?" he whispered.

"Well, maybe a little. We're just not meant for this world. A world without Katy Perry, skinny jeans, or Dr. Pepper. Where people actually have to work for their money."

Rick rolled his eyes, and pulled her up. "I'm really sorry, Evy. Can you please forgive me?" he gave her the look he knew she couldn't resist.

"Oh stop it. Fine, I forgive you!" Rick immediately leaned over and kissed her.

"Have I ever told you that those skinny jeans make you look cuter than ever?"

"I guess this is a good time to mention that your cologne makes you smell hotter than James Bond?"

"Who's that?" Rick asked.

"This cool guy I saw on Michelle's TV."

Evy stood up and walked over to the bathroom. Rick jumped up when he heard her scream. "What?" he demanded. She pointed at the dead rat by the shower. He gave her a glance, and then picked up the rat by its tail, throwing it out the window. "That's disgusting!" she had a revolted look on her face. He gently sat her back down. "you okay?"

She shook her head. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"We let our eight year old son wander around in a casino."

"Oh," Rick said. "That's bad."

I tried to sleep, but my body wouldn't allow it. I had a feeling Anubis was was just being mean. My throat suddenly felt as if it was on fire. Thanks. Just what I needed. I forwarded my thoughts towards the god. Why couldn't that surprise come now? Annoyed, I sat up and turned my phone on. I tried calling Elizabeth, but she didn't answer. Now why would she answer her phone at 4:30 in the morning? I gave myself a whack in the head. What was there to do in the middle of the night? Well, absolutely nothing at all. I decided to get up and get a snack. Before I could reach my door, something caught me off balance. Before I could stop myself, I was on the ground. I turned around to see my Mummy DVDs were all over the floor. I sighed, and picked them up, studying each one thoroughly. Is this what my life has become? The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Scorpion King? Hating Tomb of the Dragon Emperor? Was that it? I tried to remember what life was like before I saw those movies. Going to basketball practice every Tuesday night, going to church on Sunday, our travel to Europe four years ago... Where did those days go off to? It took a good ten minutes just to remember what Elizabeth and I used to talk about. Everything I've always dreamed of was right here. Was it? I couldn't think straight anymore. It took having the time of my life with people that didn't even exist to make me realize that maybe we took this obsession a bit too far. I opened my closet and staked the movies neatly on my shelf. Maybe my life was meant to have something more than mummies and violence involved in it. I gave one last smile towards our favorite movies before the door shut closed. This was the plan all along, wasn't it? I looked up at my ceiling. A light breeze brushed through my hair; even though I was positive I shut my window before bed. Thanks big guy, I smiled as I shut my eyes. I laid there, silently going through things in my mind. I was so deep in thought; I didn't even notice my little sister enter my room. "Michelle? You awake?" she whispered. I was so startled I almost fell out of my bed. "I am now," I grumbled. Kathy was wearing her blue and yellow leotard with her hair pulled up into a bun. "Mrs. Wilding told me to practice a lot before my recital tonight." She looked tired of practicing already. "But it's five thirty in the morning!" I groaned. She sighed, and sat down next to me. "You are coming, right?"

"Sure I am!" I reassured her. "And I'll probably need to bring everyone else too." Kathy frowned.

"Do they need to go everywhere with you? I'm starting to think bringing them here was a bad idea."

"I know me too." I said. "I don't have a choice, though. Them being here is all my fault, and I have to take care of them." it's all my fault kept ringing in my head. Kathy's scowl turned into a slight smile. "Do you think I should invite Alex to my recital?"

I grinned. "You like Alex?"

She nodded her head quickly. "He's absolutely positively the cutest boy I've ever met! I mean, he's so brave! And his blue eyes... Totally sexy."

I laughed quietly. "If mom could hear you now! Okay, I'll ask him. For you." I paused to put my arm around her. "I haven't gotten to tell you how proud I am of you, Kathy. The way you handled being on that burning ship, being held against your will,"

"-being chased by killer mummies..."

"Exactly. You didn't look the least bit scared out there!"

Kathy shrugged. "I guess having all the mummy experience from watching those wretched movies really helped."

"Yah, I think we need a major mummy break after this is all over!" I smiled.

"When will it be over?" Kathy looked up at me. Before I could answer, a light switched on down the hall. "Mum's up." she got up from my bed and collected her dance things. I looked at my phone to check the time. It was already six in the morning. "Dad told me something about a surprise for you." she acted as if she were hiding something. "I know you'll love it."

"What? What is it?" Her smile widened, and she took off down the hallway. "Tell me!" I chased after her.

"nope." she folded her arms.

"Please?"

"Well, umm... Okay. Answers still no."

I wanted to strangle her. "Money? Shopping? A new car?"

"Mum!" Kathy shouted over my questions, "Michelle's bugging me!" My dad opened his door to see us fighting on the floor. He was still in his striped bathrobe. He pulled my screaming sister off me and threw her over his shoulder. "What's going on with you two?" he yawned.

"What's the surprise?" I was dying to know. He helped me up to my feet. "He should be arriving shortly." He? What? I was so confused. I waited for him to say more, but he just walked over to the kitchen table and plopped Kathy on a chair. My mother was making blueberry pancakes for breakfast, which happened to be my favorite. I was in too much of a fuss to care. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Kathy rummaged through her backpack under the table and brought up a small cardboard box. "I found another eraser for my collection!" I rolled my eyes at the hope that my sister would ever do anything normal. "Great... It's only six thirty and I'm already having a crummy day." My mom gave me a glance, and put two pancakes on a plate and handed it to me. "Have at least one." she pleaded. I gave her an I- don't- want- to glare, which made her fold her arms crossly. "No eating, no surprise..." I immediately stuffed one whole pancake into my mouth. "Good," she smiled, and nodded towards my father. He typed something on his phone, which was followed by the doorbell sounding through the house. "Michelle dear, do get the door, will you?" I didn't see why my mother's legs suddenly stopped working.

"Um, that was code for answer the door dufus!" Kathy pushed me out of my chair and towards the door. I almost crashed into the wall. Opening the door, here's what I found:

-a guy, maybe seventeen or eighteen

-sandy blond hair

-totally cute

-did I fail to mention that this was in fact Freddie Boath, Alex O'Connell, from no other the Mummy Returns?

I knew from that moment on that today was definitely not going to be a crummy day. "You're Michelle, right?" his voice was as sweet as a symphony. I nodded, wide eyed at his appearance. It wasn't my fault he looked absolutely adorable! I allowed him in, quickly swallowing my pancake before it ended up all over mister perfect over there. "So glad you could make it Freddie." my dad grinned at me. I glared back, and walked over to them. "Dad..." I whispered through clenched teeth. "How did you get a bloody, sexy, actor to come here?"

He turned to me. "It was between him and Angelina Jolie. You may thank me later."

My sister came over to me and gestured to my clothes. I gasped when I realized I was still in a tank top and shorts. I didn't even want to know how my hair looked. "Maybe we should leave them to it," my mom pushed by sister out of the room, followed by my dad. We were completely alone. Me with my pajamas and smelly breath, and Freddie in his designer jacket and million dollar jeans, with cologne that smelled better than the mens store at the mall. "So," he started, "I heard about your trip to Egypt with those exchange students from Denmark."

I couldn't believe he bought that.

"Oh yes, they are most definitely from Denmark." I kept myself from bursting out in laughter. "Funny. They remind me of people I used to work with."

"Oh yah, you played Alex in the Mummy Returns! Or that's what I heard,"

He gave me a dazzling grin. "Are you a mummy fan?"

I shrugged. "You know it! I mean- I've seen them once or twice before." I contained my inner mummy, even though it was quite a struggle to do so. "The first movie is my favorite." he said.

That surprised me. "Oh, me too!"

"Really?"

"You betcha!"

He raised an eyebrow. "How about you prove it? Meet me at Cagle Steakhouse tonight at seven. Then we'll see."

"You mean, like a date?" I'm sure my mouth was hanging open like crazy.

"Yah, a date. See you there Michelle."

Back at the Princeton household, Elizabeth was trying to find the perfect outfit for her "date" with Cody Bryant. "Hey, Mom, where's my black tank top and black dress pants? I have to look totally sexy for my date with Cody tonight!" Julie Princeton smiled, and shook her head. "Do you really want to go over to the country club looking like that?" Elizabeth looked at her mother like she was from a different planet. "Well, duh Mom! Did you think I was going in a trashy t-shirt and pj bottoms? C'mon, ya gotta be in the now, not the past! You act like I'm thirteen! I'm almost a legal adult, now. Let me do what I want to, and we'll both be happy, 'kay? Okay. Now, where are my clothes?"

Evy and Rick were frantically looking around for their son. "Where could he be?" Evy gripped Ricks hand tightly. He looked at her and smiled. "Don't worry Evy! From what I hear, this is one of the best hotels London has to offer."

She whacked him on the arm. "For British lunatics! Alex could be dead for all we know! We checked the casino, the pool, even the bathrooms! Thanks for making me go in there by the way." she debated punching him again for making her go into the grotesque world of the men's bathroom. "I already said I was sorry!" Rick held up his hands defensively. "How was I supposed to know the-"

"Let's just focus on finding our son, okay?" Evy grumbled.

Rick thought for a moment. "We haven't checked the bar yet,"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Why in the name of Horus would Alex be in a bar? He's eight!"

Rick shrugged. "He has us for parents. Why wouldn't he?"

They both shrugged, and headed in the other direction. When they got there, Evy found her brother, totally drunk, surrounded by five beefy men seconds away from pounding his face into the table. Jonathan caught sight of her and let out a relieved laugh. "Hey!" he shouted out, "why don't you tell these nice men that I have no intention of hiding aces under the table!"

Before she could say anything, she saw a flash of blond behind him. Evy tugged on Rick's arm and the both of them quickly walked past poor Jonathan. "Wait!" he shouted at them before his cries were muffled out. They paid no attention to him. When they finally got to Alex, here's what they saw. A shirtless, perky faced boy surrounded by girls. And this was only from one whole hour of manhood. Alex looked up to see his parents glaring down at him. He let out a big "hey!" to them, but they didn't seem impressed. "Who's that?" one of the girls looked at Evy with threatening eyes.

"She's, umm.. My girlfriend?"

It's a horrible mistake to call your mother your girlfriend.

"What?" Evy grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him to his feet, much to the girls' displeasure.

"Sorry ladies!" he yelled back at them. Rick took Alex from Evy and turned back to Jonathan, who managed to start a full blown bar fight while they were occupied. "I'll sort him out," Evy eyed the two of them carefully. "You two. Please, just stay over there." Alex was about to say something, but she held up her hand to stop him. "Nothing more from you, boyfriend."

"What?" Rick looked at his wife like she was absolutely crazy.

"Oh Alex can tell you all about it," Evy rolled her eyes as she walked away.

"So tell me," Rick said to his son, "when did you start dating your mother?"

Everyone around them became eerily silent.

Evy was so fed up with Jonathan. If he didn't choose this bloody hotel, they wouldn't be in this mess. A mass of drunken men crowded the two people in the middle: the same beefy guy, and of course, Jonathan. Evy was thinking of leaving her brother there, and watch him get beat up, but she just couldn't do it. She pushed through the crowd and ended up right between the two men. "Evy?" Jonathan gasped.

She looked at him and sighed. "What'd I tell you about playing ruff with friends? It's impolite."

Jonathan's opponent let out a raspy laugh. "Who do you think you are lady? I was just about to teach this bozo a lesson!"

Evy folded her arms crossly. "I'm his sister, for your information." That triggered a chorus of laughter throughout the crowd. "Oh, you think that's funny? More like a never-ending curse," she muttered. "Now Jonathan. Apologize for being a bozo so we can get out of here."

This time, the man didn't laugh. "I'm not saying anything to that guy!"

"Ditto," Jonathan tried acting masculine by spitting all over the floor.

"Look lady. You just turn around and-" he didn't have time to finish his sentence. Evy clenched her hand into a fist and punched him. He yelped as blood began to gush out of his nose. She turned to Jonathan and raised an eyebrow. "Uh- okay! Bruce, sorry for calling you a big hairy lump."

Bruce took a shaky breath, still clutching his bleeding nose. Evy thought he was going to start crying from the pain. "And Jonathan... I'm sorry for saying you were a stupid, no brained democrat."

Evy smiled. "See how easy that was? I'm so proud of you boys!" she grabbed Jonathan by the shoulders and steered him out of the crowd. "You owe me, big time." she glared at him through narrow, very tired eyes. "Thanks again sis," he muttered.

When they finally re- found Alex and Rick, Evy looked like she was about to die of exasperation. "Can we just do back to the smelly hotel room?" she pouted to Rick. He nodded, and turned towards Alex. He found an unattended glass on the counter where he was sitting. "Apple-juice tastes funny." he made a sour face and cocked his head. Evy grabbed the glass from his hands and took a drink. She made the same sour face and spit it out. "Yah, that's not juice." she hacked.

Rick coughed. "Your mom's right. Let's scram."

I seriously thought I would end up dying of happiness. I couldn't help it! When a sexy actor enters your house and asks you on a date, you're going to be smiling for a while. Everything that wasn't about Freddie was run clear out of my mind. Even holding down a simple conversation was a tricky task. My family gave up on me only twenty minutes after he left. I looked at myself in the mirror. That wide smile of mine was still as wide as ever. When I tried lowering my lips, they just popped back up. I haven't even changed out of my pajamas yet. Daydreams of Freddie and I entered my head. In a daze, I turned around on my heels and plopped onto by bed. My life couldn't have been more perfect. Considering it was just three days ago I was battling an evil lord who wanted world domination, yes; this was perfect. My dreams were suddenly interrupted by Taylor Swift's Teardrops on my Guitar. I hastily dug my phone from under my bed and pressed OK. "yello?" I yawned into the phone.

"Guess what, guess what, and guess what?" she was a bit bubblier than usual. I decided to play along.

"What?"

"Guess who's gonna go on a date with Cody tonight? I am! That's who!" I've never seen her this hyped up. "Guess who's gonna go out to dinner with Freddie Boath?" I didn't even need to answer myself. We both screamed our heads off. I must've been screaming pretty loud, because it only took a couple of seconds for my mom to come in and tell me to shut up. "If you can keep quiet until lunch, I'll let Elizabeth come over."

"Fine. Just tell Kathy to stay outa my room. This is a private conversation."

My mother laughed. "We can all hear your private conversation, Michelle. Might I recommend that blue dress your aunt got you last Christmas? I think you'll look great in it." I started to protest, but then it dawned on me what blue dress she was talking about. It was a tropical kind of blue, with a white ribbon across the waist. It had spaghetti straps and was covered in a delicate layer of sparkles that shone pleasantly in the moonlight. "Not a bad idea," I said. My mom smiled and turned to leave.

"And while you're at it, why not clean this room up? No boy should have to see this."

"Mom?" I rolled my eyes and shut the door quickly. Then I realized my phone was still on a call. "Elizabeth? Still there?"

"Finally," she groaned.

"You and I have a lot of work to do. Meet me outside my house." I hung up the phone and started digging in my closet for a blue dress.

Elizabeth was standing at my doorstep before I even got down the stairs. Her beaming face right there when I opened the door. "Like the outfit?" she held up the tank top.

"Only if you like mine," I presented the dress like it was made of gold.

"Love it!"

We both broke down laughing. I regained my composure and glanced at my watch. "We have approximately five hours before our dates. Time for some shopping." Elizabeth already had her wallet out. We pulled out ten pounds each. "Time for those silver shoes you were dying for."

"And a pair of blue flats for you..." We did the math in our heads. Exactly enough. "So my lucky day continues!" I grabbed my friend's hand, starting for the best shoe market on the block. Suddenly, Elizabeth pulled me to a stop. "What?" I looked around to see everyone everything normal. She pointed towards a black van with company logos covering the back windshield. "Funny. That van looks like the exact one that had all those photographers the day we got back to London."

My eyes widened. "Elizabeth?" I couldn't finish. What seemed like hundreds of people poured out of the van.

They were coming towards... us.

"Run!" We bolted down the sidewalk. And boy, those paparazzi could move fast. Why did the bloody store have go be so far away? I felt my legs get heavy. Sweat dotted my forehead. My vision blurred. Not that I'm out of shape or anything. It is summer vacation for heavens sake. Elizabeth caught me before I fell. By the time I regained my consciousness, we were surrounded on all sides. Questions like "planning anything new?" and "what was it like saving the world?" were flying every which way around us. I tried to answer them, but I couldn't tell who said the question in the first place. Elizabeth and I just stood there like idiots; occasionally throwing a "yes" or a "no" out in the audience. The mob of people seemed to fuse together into a black blob. A lady with blonde hair pulled loosely in a bun pushed her way forward and jammed a microphone in our faces. "Some people are saying that your exchange students look an awful lot like the O'Connell's from the Mummy movies. Care to comment?"

Well, I might not be the best at talking to paparazzi, but I was getting pretty sick of having to come up with lies for the media. I stepped forward and snatched up the microphone in my hands. "I don't know what movie you're talking about. These people, our friends, are just normal guys from Denmark. They're trained actors for goodness sake!"

Elizabeth decided to take the next stand. "We didn't break any laws! No one got hurt! We're just two ordinary British girls looking for fun. Is that what you call trouble? Taking a little trip, then coming back? We didn't ask for any of this, did we?"

"Elizabeth?" I couldn't take this any longer. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. Not like the sad ones before. No, these were different. These were tears of anger. All the rage starting from when I stepped out of that plane was preparing for an explosion. My mind was going crazy. But I knew one thing. We had to get out of here. I took the microphone and dropped it on the floor. I smiled as the horrible ringing from the mic made every one of the bloody reporters back away from us with their hands over their ears. As soon as I saw the gap between us, I ran. I didn't even care about the shoes anymore. I was glad I decided to drop the microphone, because I probably would've said some things that I shouldn't have. We were running so fast, I had to sink my heels into the sidewalk to keep us from banging into the door. Elizabeth's face was flushed. But it probably beat mine. She put a hand on my shoulder and flashed a smile. "That was a brave move out there Daniels."

Before I could say anything, I saw the same black van start driving towards us. I swung the door open, and we both flew inside. Elizabeth turned the lock, along with all the others. By the time we were done, I was sure not even the biggest guy in London with a camera could get through.

"Well," I said, "I didn't like those silver shoes anyway."

The constant nagging about what happened filled my head, but I couldn't let that stop me from going on my date. It was our biggest dream in the whole world to have our first dates together. I wasn't going to let my thoughts bother me. I wasn't about to let my best friend down. And nothing could prevent me from dating England's #1 sexiest teenage boy.

After calling in a press complaint to the police and talking to my parents, we had exactly three hours until Cody was expecting Elizabeth, and Freddie me. We fetched all the candy and soda I could find around the house and locked ourselves in my room. Not to come out until we looked absolutely perfect.

"Pass the mascara, Michelle!" Elizabeth had her face plastered on the mirror for a half hour and counting. I glanced at the bottle of mascara on my bedside. It was nearly half empty. And I was pretty sure when I bought it yesterday it was full. "You don't need any more, trust Me." she sighed in exasperation and turned back to herself.

"I look horrible. How can a hot guy like Cody like me when I look so... so-"

"Stop that!" I took her hand and sat her on my bed beside me. "You're absolutely beautiful. Any guy would he lucky to have you for a girlfriend!"

Elizabeth looked at me and pouted her lips. "I'm not like you Michelle. Not brave or talented..."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You think I'm brave? Do you know how scared I was when Freddie came into my house?"

"You threw the bloody spear!"

"That wasn't me. Anubis did it, not me."

"Right. Now you're just being modest."

"Elizabeth," I looked into her eyes and hugged her. "I've always been envious of you. I mean, you're so smart, and you know just what to say."

Maybe it was my faulty eyes, but I thought I saw some of her makeup go runny on one side. "My... dad was the one with the way with words. He used to read me the bible every night." Her voice faltered. I caught her before she broke down in tears.

"I know you miss him. He would love to see you all pretty; about to go on your first date." She wiped her tears away and looked back into the mirror.

"We have only twenty minutes until I meet Cody at the country club."

I smiled, and handed her a pair of blue flats. The exact pair she wanted. "These'll be perfect."

She took them with delight and hugged me tight. "You're the bestest friend a girl could ever ask for."

"Ditto." I whispered back. "Now. We've got dates to attend to."


	21. I Attend My First Dance Recital

**CHAPTER 21**

"_I told you to wait by the entrance."_

"_And what am I supposed to do?"  
>I don't know, surprise me. Build a better mousetrap."<em>

_-The Mummy Returns_

**I**f we were to be compared to models, well... the models would probably look better. But we came in a very close second. Elizabeth in her adorable black tank top and dress pants; complemented by the blue flats and enough makeup to cover a dog head to toe. I, in my ocean blue dress, and curls flowing down my shoulders, can say I've never looked better.

Thanks to Elizabeth. Along with being way smart, she's fashion savvy.

Back to going on our dates.

We were stunning.

I opened the door; letting out more perfume than a hair store. Taking my first few steps, I almost fell flat on my face with my three inch heels. I didn't want to feel like a shrimp beside Freddie. Kathy caught us in the hallway. Probably about to yell at me about something I did. Whatever it was, she was caught wide eyed with her mouth open. She blinked at the both of us, stunned. "Wow," she finally uttered out. "Michelle! I didn't know you could look so pretty!"

I scowled at my little sister. "I'm meeting Freddie tonight at Cagles, and you're not gonna mess it up."

Elizabeth glanced down at her watch, and paled. "We have ten minutes," There was nothing else to say. We both scrambled for the door.

Ten minutes till my first date. Up until this point, I hadn't thought much about what would happen. I had so much to think about! What I'd say, what we would do, everything. Ten minutes to figure everything about tonight out. As soon we burst through the front door, a wave of nervousness whammed into me like a ton of bricks. I realized that I was scared out of my mind. All my life, I wanted to be treated like a grown up. Make all my decisions for myself. Do what I wanted to do, go where I wanted to go.

Now all I wanted was the comfort of my parents.

I took a deep breath, and turned towards my best friend that I'd shared everything with since kindergarten. Cagle Steakhouse was a five minutes walk in the left direction. The country club was located in the opposite direction. This was it.

"I know you'll do great with Freddie." Elizabeth whispered.

"Call me as soon as you're done," I said. "I want to hear everything."

She leaned forward and hugged me. I hugged her back, never wanting to let go. But we did. It was the hardest thing in the world looking into those sad eyes. All the pain of a father abandoning his family, a mother forced to raise a seven year old and a twelve year old by herself with nowhere to turn. She shook the pain away and smiled at me with amazing reassurance. "Common! You gotta get going!"

It took all my willpower to turn around and start walking on my own. I cleared my head of any stray thoughts. It was the only way to keep myself calm. I turned the corner of the sidewalk and observed my surroundings. Looking at my phone, it would take a miracle to get there in time. I recalled Jeanne telling me about a shortcut in the neighborhood a while ago. One that could get me to the road I needed in half the time. There was only one problem. The shortcut went through the backyard of no other than cranky old Nelly Boulevard. She and her four kids lived seven houses down from mine. And she hated my guts. Ever since her boy came over and got sick over Kathy's first try at cooking dinner. I didn't want to, but I had to. Whatever it took to get to the only love of my life. I craned my neck to see through the open window. I saw nothing. Not even a light on. Being light on my toes, I ran lightly over the weedy, bug infested grass. By jove, did Nelly's husband own a lawnmower? I was almost there when a glowering face popped through the window. "Daniels! Is that you?" a harsh, uninviting voice shouted at me. I put in a showcase smile and turned back towards her. "Yes, it's me Mrs. Boulevard. How've you been doing?"

She just scowled at me. "What did I tell you about walking in my grass? I've gotta take Donald and Hunter to soccer practice, and I'm stuck here talking to you! You've been trouble since you moved to this neighborhood!"

"look- I'm running late-" I was interrupted by a series of screams and wails.

"Great!" she barked at me, picking up a small, lumpy baby from his crib. Behind her, I thought I saw two kids- probably Donald and Hunter- fighting each other on the ground. "See what you've done?" she shouted at me.

I was baffled. My patience was wearing thin. "I didn't mean to-"

"I don't care! I'm calling the police and having you arrested you little brat!"

Oh yes, I'm the brat.

With that last remark, I took off towards Main Street. I wasn't worried about the police coming after me. This was the seventeenth call she's made to them about meddlesome teenagers. I was sure those officers were cracking up down at the station. I had exactly two minutes left. Rounding the corner, I saw my destination.

Cagle Steakhouse was a very expensive restaurant. One of those places your rich grandmother takes you when she cones for a visit. I hoped Freddie brought his wallet with him. When the black limousine pulled up at the front doors, my mind went berserk. I should've known someone like him would arrive in something as fancy as that. He came out looking like an angel. With blonde hair gelled up all cute, and a tuxedo with a red corsage tucked into his pocket. Freddie gave me a dazzling smile as he approached me. "You sure look beautiful,"

I realized I was still panting from the run over here.

"So do you," I allowed myself to stop my heavy breathing for a few seconds. He put his arm around me (so romantic!) and opened the door. I let him go in first, so I had a chance to spray the rest of the Aeropostale perfume on me. I didn't want a celebrity thinking I sweat like this on a regular basis. When I caught up to Freddie, he walked over to a table and pulled a chair for me. I smiled, and carefully sat down. He picked up a pink rose that was sitting in the middle of the table and tucked it behind my ear. "This is sweet, Freddie." I dared myself to look him straight in the eye. They were hazel- no, brown. They seemed to keep changing on me. And boy, they were cute. "I thought you might like it." he said. A waiter came by and filled my glass with dr. pepper.

"How'd you know?"

"Your sister sure knows a lot about you,"

I must've been blushing, because he let out a reassuring laugh. "She's right about one thing" -he reached out and held my hand- "you have an amazing smile."

That did it. All my weariness- the need to do everything perfect- disappeared. I was myself again. And I was sure this moment would be the one that would fill my head for years to come.

When Elizabeth first saw Cody's face gleaming in the moonlight, she knew she was in love. The walk over to the Country Club was fine, maybe a tad boring, but fine. Now that Cody was here, she couldn't think about anything else. He caught a glimpse of a blonde haired girl with heavy makeup and an adorable black tank top and thought_, that can't be Elizabeth Princeton from science class, can it?_

And she was thinking the same for him. She always saw Cody Bryant as the cute guy walking in the hall; surrounded by his friends, barely noticing the shy girl that sat diagonal from him every day in school.

His messy brown hair seemed to glow when it was thrown around in the London wind. He had on a blue dress shirt with jeans and red sneakers. And Hollister cologne that would make Jonathan Carnahan extremely jealous. Cody came over to Elizabeth and looked into her eyes. "you've never looked more beautiful." he finally said.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. Cody's face turned red. "Not- not like you didn't look pretty before! Just... this is the first time I get to see the real you." Elizabeth couldn't stay mad at him for long. Not when he looked this good. "You too," she smiled. Cody blew a sigh of relief, and opened the door for her.

The Country Club in London, England was probably the best in the world. It was a huge building containing anything and everything a teenage girl could want. Dancing, eating, arcade games, everything. Elizabeth had been here a million times with her brother before he left. As soon as she swept through the door, she was engulfed with the bright lights and the blaring noises. The radio was on full blast through the speakers. Smells of cheesy nachos, man smell, and light perfume filled their noses. There wasn't a bloody adult in sight. Basically, it was heaven for Elizabeth and Cody.

"So!" Cody had to yell over the music, "I heard your brothers off to college!"

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side, trying to hear him better. "What? Oh! Yah, Jake left a few years ago! Oxford College!" she had to stop before she lost her voice for the rest of the night. Cody nodded, and took her to the front desk. "Can we get some bowling shoes?" he yelled to the worker. He nodded, and turned gruffly around and into a closet that was filled to the ceiling with shoes. "You're taking me bowling?" Elizabeth grinned. "Yah. I could help you if you think it's too hard,"

"You wish!"

He smiled. "First one to a hundred?"

"Oh yes," Elizabeth stuck her hand out for him to shake. "you're on!"

"and then she says 'they take a sharp, red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, then rip it out through your nostrils." I laughed.

Freddie held his nose in mock pain. That's gotta hurt!"

We both laughed at loud as one could laugh. Everyone else around us looked at us like we were mental. The way Nelly looks at me through her window every time I step outside. Creepy and uninviting. With one threatening glare from the waiter, Freddie and I got up and scoop up our things. We were out of there in fifteen seconds flat. The bitter wind outside gave me chills down my back. Freddie, seeing this, took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. Back at the restaurant was the best time of my life. Once we got onto the Mummy topic, the ice between us shattered instantly.

Freddie smiled at me with those impossible- to- figure- out eyes. "I've never met anyone who knows as much as you do about The Mummy."

I returned the smile. "Me either."

Then I saw him do something I never thought he'd do. He stopped me in the middle of the road and faced me. His face looked magnificent under the dim light coming from one of the nearest streetlamp. His extreme closeness made me very grateful I didn't eat that spinach dip. Freddie Boath (yes, the real Freddie Boath!) leaned forward and wiped away some stray hairs from my face. The feel of his hand on my face tinged my skin. "I think you're amazing, Michelle." he whispered.

Then, it happened.

Before I even knew what was happening, he leaned in further, and kissed me on the lips.

And let me tell you: a first kiss is the best thing in the world. I lost track of everything that was happening in my brain. Thoughts of Donald at his precious soccer practice dissolved into the night sky. Even my family at Disney parks was no where to be found. Right now, I only had eyes for the eighteen year old in the middle of kissing me in the middle of the street. I was hoping no crazy drivers were on the road tonight. At least I would die in the arms of a hot, extremely wonderful guy. While I was thinking about all this, I realized we were still kissing. Must've been a whole minute, I told myself. Of course, I didn't have my timer on at the moment.

Then, out of the blue, the worst happened. My phone, which was in my back pocket, sent a series of stiffening vibrations through my body. I jerked back immediately; shocked out of my mind. I grabbed my phone and quickly shut it up. When I looked at the screen, I felt like banging my head with the phone. It read:

Kathy's recital do NOT miss!

I completely forgot about it. I looked from the screen back to Freddie. Kathy, Freddie. Freddie, Kathy. Let's see... I could, A. Continue kissing the guy in front of you. B. Support my only sister in her whacked out dream to become a professional dancer. On a regular basis, that last choice would've been thrown out the window at record time. But, for some crazy reason, I felt the need to carry out this one promise to my sister. There. That was my final decision. I looked up at Freddie with sad, longing eyes. "What? What is it?" he said with concern.

"I- I have to go to my sister." I took his hand and warmed it up with mine. "I'm sorry." I whispered, slowly letting go. I'll never forget the sorrowful expression on his face that night. I turned around so I didn't have to go through any more of the pain of looking into those wonderful eyes. Feeling the tears setting in once again, I forced myself into a sprint. I made my way around the corner, heading for the country club. I tried my hardest to block out Freddie's calls.

I knew there was no going back.

According to Rick's forgiveness plan, swimming in a hotel pool was the next one on the list. I can't think of anything more romantic than swimming in smoggy chlorine water that thousands of others have been in. Especially when you're in a city like London. While the adults crowded in the Jacuzzi, Alex splashed around alone in the pool. Rick and Evy were back together and enjoying each others company like nothing happened. I mean, who could stay mad at someone as big and buff as Brendan Fraser?

Alex groaned, looking longingly at his parents. "If only Kathy were here" he thought. "Mum! Dad!" Alex called out, splashing the water around him. Evy and Rick exchanged glances, then climbed out of the (rather gross) water, cannonballing into the pool (gross!). The room filled with splashing laugher. Jonathan rolled his eyes, watching his sister act completely childish. He reluctantly walked over to them, trying to knock some sense into her. "Really, am I the only mature one in this family?" he demanded. Everyone became stone silent. Deciding wether to laugh or be concerned at this comment. Evy sighed at her brother, getting out of the pool. "Fine. If you want to be this way Jonathan, I'll have to-" -instantly pushing him into the freezing water.

Sweat started to form on elizabeth's brow. Eyes narrowed, she fingered the green bowling ball as it rolled onto the silver platform. Elizabeth lunged forward, quickly releasing the ball down the alley. Everyone held their breath as it surged forward. Then it was ball against pin, the crack sounding easily over the music.

An uproar of cheers filled the air of the country club. "Strike!" Elizabeth held her arms up in triumph. It had been an extremely tight game, with Cody close on her heels the whole way. The final score was 98 to 100. And of course, Elizabeth had won.

Cody ran up to her and spun her around in a full circle. Much to her surprise, he held her closer and kissed her. It was indeed a very lucky day for us mummy girls of Great Britain.

That's about the time I burst through those glass doors. I looked around for Elizabeth, but she was no where to be found. After pushing my way through the crowd, the only thing I saw was a cute brown haired guy holding a girl and spinning her in a circle. Wait- I knew that guy. If that was Cody Bryant, then where was Elizabeth? Once the girls face came into view, my eyes widened. She sure went a long way since her insane makeup epidemic this morning. It made me a tad bit jealous, seeing her in the middle of kissing the third hottest guy at out school when it could've been Freddie and I also. But I was so proud of her! It was too bad we had to leave. I didn't want to do this, but I had no choice. "Cody?" I tapped him on the shoulder. He slowly put my best friend down and turned around to face me. "Can I borrow Elizabeth for a moment?"

Her eyes widened when she saw me in the one place she least expected. "What in blazes are you doing here?" she hissed, reluctant to let go of Cody. "Where's Freddie?"

I fished my phone out and showed her the event on the calendar. Elizabeth stared at the screen for a bit, then looked back at me. "You actually left your date for this?" she leaned forward and whispered, "did you even get to kiss the guy?"

I grinned and nodded for yes.

She considered this for a moment. "If you could leave a superstar, even after you kissed him, I think I can do the same here." Elizabeth took a deep breath and turned around to Cody. "I have to go. Maybe we could... reschedule?" she but her lip in nervousness about his response. He just smiled at her with understanding eyes. "Sure. I'd like that. See you at school."

Elizabeth held his gaze for a second before turning towards the door. It was the hardest thing leaving that Country Club that late at night. I felt like I was being lulled into the world of teenagers and a forever loud radio station. One could really have fun at a place like that. When we stepped outside, I had to turn my head to the side until the hearing came back to my ears. It took a lot of concentration just to hear what Elizabeth was saying. "So, are we heading for the dance studio?" she asked.

I was about to say yes when I remembered something. I pulled up a map on my phone and turned to the right. "But first, let's stop by our friends at the sunny-side hotel."

It wasn't very surprising to us when we found out the O'Connell's were staying at a dump like the Sunny- side hotel. Stepping into it was like stepping right into a cave filled with nothing but trash. We went up to the guy at the front desk to find him fast asleep and drooling all over his papers. So we decided to find the room ourselves. It only took three corners and a bunch of empty rooms to find it. The whole place smelled like a cross between a dead skunk and armpit, which made me pretty light headed. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A fist sized hole broke through the soft wood as soon as I hit it. Elizabeth just turned the knob gently and stepped through. I sighed and lowered my arm. The room was pretty dark, and I saw no light swishes around. Jonathan was sprawled out on the bed closest to us, with Alex desperately trying to push him to the edge for more space. Rick was standing in front of the mirror with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, and Evy was sitting on the other bed with her pajamas on, picking beans from a tear in the mattress. They all looked up at us with tired eyes. I smoothed my dress with my hands and tried avoiding the disgusting hotel room. "We know it's late, but we were wondering if Alex could come with us to Kathy's recital tonight." Elizabeth said uncertainly, probably still gaping at the room. Evelyn got up and got Alex out of bed. "Sure you want to go?" he nodded, and blushed towards us.

"Kathy really invited me to go?" he said sheepishly. I nodded, and checked the time again. "Gosh, we're going to be late!" I muttered, taking his hand and zipping down the hallway.

"Wait!" Evy shouted, standing out in the middle of the hall. She had a concerned look on her face. "You should know... well... we were thinking maybe we should go back tomorrow. Back to our time,"

I stopped and looked back at her, then to Alex. I sure dent want them to leave, but I knew that trip to Egypt wouldn't hold off forever. Life had to go on. Without another word, Evy turned around and went back into the hotel room. She raised an eyebrow at the hole I made in the door before shutting it.

It wasn't until we were outside that I noticed Alex was only wearing his swim trunks. But there was no time to change that. We were already running.

Boy, what a day! After my date with Freddie ended with an epic fail, I started to feel a bit run down. And after collecting Elizabeth and Alex, I felt like dying. Now here I was, running down the street towards a dance studio. I could really use a nap. To make matters worse, it was a whopping fifty degrees outside, nine thirty at night. But I'm not one to complain. At least I have clothes on instead of swim trunks. We had arrived just in time. The room was packed full. Eager mothers holding the younger ones hands and pushing them on the stage; fathers in the back reluctantly holding up video cameras for their wives to see later.

A couple hours beforehand, Elizabeth and I looked like goddesses. My once brand new blue dress had a mud smear when a car driving past drove through a puddle. I had to carry my heels on the way here, so my bare feet were almost black with who knows what. And worst of all, I smelled like I just walked out of a bar. But after all I've been through, I didn't care what people think about me. They probably thought we were all smelly hobos by now. Elizabeth took me and Alex's hand and forced her way to the front of the crowd, near the stage. I watched early as some of Kathy's friends made their way out from behind the curtain. It took a lot of force to keep my mouth shut when Kathy came out. They were all wearing light blue leotards with colorful skirts. I knew from our late night conversation that they were her favorite. When she saw Elizabeth and I standing there clapping, a huge smile grew on her face. When she realized the blonde haired, shirtless boy was Alex O'Connell, her eyes nearly bugged out of her face. He gave her a warm smile and waved slightly, which made Kathy blush. She mouthed quickly "thank you" at me and joined the rest of her group to begin.

Not only did I manage to get here in time with my best friend in hand, but I also brought my sisters secret crush, who happened to be in his bathing suit. It was Kathy Daniels lucky day.

The performance was better than I thought it'd be. All the ten and eleven year old girls went on first. They leaped and twirled; threw their hands in the air and sang. Like I said before, my little sister Kathy can dance better then anyone I know. The song they danced to was Dynamite, so every time that word popped up in the song, the girls would scream it at the top of their lungs. Near the ending, two girls cart-wheeled across the stage while the rest grouped together and formed a pyramid. I know it sounds tacky, but it was pretty awesome. Kathy's face was gleaming as the tip of the pyramid with her hands planted on her hips. The whole room erupted in applause. The poor girls who had to hold her up the whole time finally got her down. She ran down the steps and gave me a huge hug. "You actually came? You ditched the hottest guy in the universe for me?"

I sighed. "Don't remind me," I muttered.

"You're the best sister ever." she said. Then, as quickly as the sweet sister moment came, it vanished.

"Alex!" she grinned, giving him a brief hug. "Michelle got you to come?"

He grinned back. "Yah, sure beats the hotel! You were amazing out there Kathy."

She turned red as a tomato as the let out a small "thanks". We stood in silence for a while before Mrs. Wilden came over to us and exclaimed, "That was spectacular Kathy! I'll be seeing you on Thursday, right?"

"Yes ma'am!" Kathy laughed. Before she could say more, I hooked my arm in hers and took off towards the back door. There we all were, hand in hand, walking down the middle of the cobblestone street; enjoying our last moment with the greatest eight year old boy in the history of time.


	22. Sad Farewells

**Chapter 22**

"_My friend; there is a fine line between coincidence, and fate."_

_-The Mummy Returns_

**I** was up long before the O'Connell's walked up the steps of my house. Elizabeth had slept over again, so we didn't get much sleep. My weird and unusual Anubis dreams came back last night, which must've been a sign of his coming. By looking out the window into the sky, I could tell today was going to be another rainy day. I shook Elizabeth until she waked and got myself tucked into a green sweater. Both of our phones buzzed at the same time. It was a text, from Rick, saying they would be outside in ten minutes.

The sun was barely peaking the horizon when we stepped outside. The cold wind shook me, but I wasn't backing down. I saw Alex first. He was wearing the same outfit Elizabeth got him on their first day in the 21st century. Evy and Rick were close behind, and by the looks of things, it seemed they walked all the way here from their hotel. Jonathan was far behind, struggling to continue. I debated enlightening them about the fast and easy thing called getting a cab, but I decided against it. Instead, we just smiled and gave them a wave. "Wonderful morning for time travel, don't you think O'Connell?" Elizabeth smirked. Jonathan looked up and wiped the sweat from his face. "Yes... fabulous," he muttered.

The street filled with awkward silence. Nobody dared to break it.

"So..." Rick almost whispered, "How long are we supposed to stand here before o'l Anubis zaps us back?"

I didn't think any of us knew the answer to that one. But apparently, my best buddy Nelly Boulevard thought we've been standing there long enough. Her screen door flew open, and there she was. Pink curlers bigger than three tennis balls put together dotted her hair spontaneously. She had the expression of a rabid tiger. But worst of all, she was wearing a purple muumuu. "Why are you all out here screaming your heads off?" she shouted. "Some. People. Like. Their. Sleep!" she roared. I was pretty sure no one was asleep now. Nelly walked down her steps and shook a fist at me. "Threatening to send me to jail? I thought we were supposed to yell at each other a bit longer before calling the police."

She glared at me one more time before turning to our guests. "And you people? Can't you take your reunion inside? My kids are trying to sleep!" I could hear Donald yelling from inside, "where's my action figure? Mom!"

Nelly didn't seem to care at the moment. "Your telling me you don't know who these people are?" Elizabeth said in mock horror. "It's the cast of the Mummy movies, duh!" she said sarcastically. Nelly just jutted out her chin and sighed. "I only watch good movies,"

As soon as she said that piece of rubbish, Rick was face to face with the beast. "What was that?" his eyes were hard. Nelly paled, and then grabbed her cell phone.

"Threatening a citizen? Well mister-" Rick had enough. He had that phone in his hand before she could even blink. With a smile, he let go of the phone. It slowly fell to its doom before crashing into a million pieces. Nelly stared in shock at her broken phone. Instead of shouting more, she turned around and fast walked back into her house and locked the door several times. I grinned towards Rick and gave him a high dive for his marvelous work. I didn't think Nelly Boulevard would be bothering any of us for a long, long time.

As soon as the door slammed shut, my parents opened ours. I was sure they would be cross, but they just shook their heads and smiled. "I didn't think anyone could scare Nelly that bad!" my father grinned.

"Is he here yet?" Kathy came running up to the front door. When Alex saw her, he gave her the usual smile. A car horn beeped repeatedly as a red van pulled to a stop in front of us. "Mum?" Elizabeth seemed surprised she was here. Julie Princeton quickly opened the car door and joined us. "Julie! You made it!" Jonathan looked relieved to know she was here. While the adults stood there making small talk, I kept my head up and studied the grayish clouds. I tried to clear my head of all thoughts about Freddie and take slow breaths. The clouds seemed to be moving together, at an unnatural speed. I nudged Elizabeth and pointed upward. The form took a darker color than the others; so much that they looked black as night. Once the figure stopped moving, we both knew who it was. The giant face of a jackal looked down on us. By now, everyone was standing there with their mouths gaping open, looking at the symbol of Anubis. The jackal head was accompanied now with a body made out of pure blackness, a cape of black silk slowly descending down to us. Now he was just a few feet above my head, making me step back a way so I could see him better. "The time has come to bring back the mortals to their own world." his voice boomed everywhere. Anubis made Nelly's annoying comments seem like a whisper. "Can't we say goodbye?" Kathy said. He scowled, but reluctantly stepped back. I really didn't know how to say goodbye to them. Even though they've only been here with us for about three weeks, it seemed like we've known them forever. They started up as our heroes, but ended as family. I went over to our car and popped up the trunk. Elizabeth and I heaved up six Dr. Pepper cases in our arms. Rick took all six at once like it was no big deal. "That should last you at least a year." I said proudly. After that, the tears started coming. And yes, the sad ones. I went over to Evy and hugged her. I smiled when I noticed she was wearing those Aeropostale skinny jeans. "Wear those jeans well," was the only I could think of saying.

"Take care Michelle." she said, "You've got real potential."

I smiled and added, "Those dreams will make sense soon. Oh! And tell Anne I said hi." we both laughed.

Elizabeth didn't even hesitate running into Rick's arms. Maybe he really does have a soft side for girls he named after sweets. "Promise me you'll protect that family of yours O'Connell."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Trust me; one crazy mummy story is enough for me." Elizabeth laughed hesitantly and put her hand on his shoulder. "Good luck big guy,"

When I approached Jonathan, all thoughts of what I'd say left me. What inspiration do you give to the guy who has absolutely none? "Jonathan... Stay, well... Jonathan." he just smiled and gave me a thumbs up. That was enough enlightening for him.

Kathy walked up to Alex and folded her arms in nervousness. He just smiled and hugged her close. Neither of them ever wanted to let go. Evy eventually got her son off from Kathy's strong grip and herded him with the others. He looked back at her with sad eyes, completely powerless. She put her hand to her ear like a phone and whispered, "Call me!"

And for the hardest goodbye of all. Julie wiped the tears off her face and fell into his arms. "I don't want to leave you Jonathan," she whispered. Jonathan stepped back and looked into her eyes. He took a deep breath and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Well Julie, you don't have to." his hands trembled as he kneeled down on one knee. "I know it will be difficult, but I love you Julie Grace Princeton. Will you marry me?" that question hung in the misty air. The diamond ring glittered against the weak sunlight. Julie held her hands over her mouth and cried. Elizabeth gripped my hand tightly. I wasn't sure if she was happy or angry. "Do it, mum." her voice was small, but powerful. Julie looked surprisingly at her daughter. "I- I don't want to do it if it means you won't be happy." Elizabeth walked over to the couple and gave Jonathan a good stare. "I know you love her" -turning to her mother- "and I know you love him. I guess I was just afraid... I mean, after dad left us... I didn't want you to hurt again. But I know that won't happen, right, Jonathan?" she smiled at him and looked at the ring box in his hands. "I couldn't be happier." Julie hugged Elizabeth tight and took the ring with shaky hands.

"yes." she smiled. Jonathan blew a sigh of relief and glanced at his sister in an I- told- you- so victory smirk. He then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. We cheered and clapped, then realized Anubis was still waiting for us. Evy walked over towards Jonathan, shaking her head. "Jonathan. I never thought this day was ever going to happen." she smiled and hugged her brother. "You finally found a use for that old ring!"

Jonathan wriggled out of her grasp and went back to Julie. "We will be married at once!" he beamed.

"Oh no," Evy glared at him; "you're coming back with us and telling that showgirl to find someone else. Someone who's not getting married."

Jonathan sighed, and turned back to Julie. "I'll be back as soon as my sister comes back from Egypt. Then I can stay here and live with you guys."

"As long as you visit from time to time." Jonathan looked at her and grinned.

"You just can't think of living without your big brother around, can you?"

Her face turned slightly red with embarrassment. "No, it's just that Alex is really going his favorite uncle, that's all!" she grabbed his wrist and went off to Anubis. "You're free to teleport is now!" she said quickly. Jonathan looked over his shoulder and yelled goodbye to Julie. Anubis gave us a wicked smile and stepped forward. "Before we get to serious yet, I should probably give you back the pesky blonde girl." He whisked his hand and bam: there was Jeanne. She looked confused for a moment, but when she saw us, she smiled and hugged us both. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she screamed, scrolling down her pictures she took with her phone. About a hundred of them were pictures just of Ardeth's face. I exchanged glances with Elizabeth and put a hand on Jeanne's shoulder. "Would you like to stay and say goodbye to the O'Connell's?" Elizabeth asked gently. Jeanne turned to them briefly, but shook her head. "I have to upload these pictures and show them to the fan club. See you at school!" With that, Jeanne took off running down the street. Now it was just us and them. "Ready?" Anubis said impatiently. I nodded, trying to come up with last minute words. "Thank you guys for helping us out with the whole 'rouge Curator' thing."

"And for putting up with us," Elizabeth added.

"We'll love you forever." I tried to keep myself from crying.

"You'll always be like family to us." Alex smiled.

Anubis's hand waved slowly over them, making them slowly fade into the air. All any of us could do now was wave. Waving away the family who could stand against pygmies and bugs, curses and the undead. A family unlike no other. A family of heros, princesses, and legionnaires. A family that could challenge death and live to tell the tale. These were the people I came to know and love. These were the O'Connell's.

I didn't know how much time passed by, but I realized I was still waving. Waving at... nothing.

They were gone.

Anubis nodded to me. "You have done well." I was very surprised at that comment. Every bone in my body told me that the God hated my guts. He turned to leave, and was almost dissapeared in the shadows before I had yet another brilliant idea come to mind. "Anubis!" I heard myself cry out loud. People stared, but I hardly noticed. He stopped, turning around to face me one last time. "One more thing." the look on his face was lethal. Before he could say anything, I finished my sentence. "I promise, this could save mankind!" Anubis looked at me with those black eyes, a sly smile upon his face. For he can, quite literally, read my mind. He snapped his fingers briskly, then our surroundings went black.

The room was dark. Too dark for my taste. I grinned widely to see that old Anubis gave us snappy combat outfits to wear on the heist. Our location: Hollywood Studios. 2007. Rob Cohen's suite. Director of Tomb of the Dragon Stupider- I mean Emperor. The door clicked open. We slid inside. No one was home tonight. Perfect. Elizabeth was right by my side, holding up a fake gun like James Bond. Peering around the corner, I found our target. A full screen apple computer. The crappy kind. Who else would use it? Elizabeth sat down in the leather computer chair, logging into his computer. "Need a password!" she snapped. I thought for a moment, knowing our time was short. A smile came upon my face as I knew what I was. I slowly typed in these letters: W-E-I-S-Z and B-E-T-T-E-R T-H-A-N B-E-L-L-O. The password accepted, and before I could bat an eye, we were in. Elizabeth stared blankly at me. "How did you know that?"

I smirked. "Common, everyone knows it's true. Even him." it's sad to know that even Rob Cohen knew that the only thing Maria Bello was good for was breast- feeding four year olds on stupid comedy shows. "Let's face it. Weisz is just that awesome." I let out a small laugh, then remembered our time was short. I clicked on 'Confidential: Mummy Script.' our eyes flickered evilly at the sight of the whole movie at the palm of our hands. Very stealthily, we both moved the file across the screen.

And right into the trash bin.

Some say they were distant cousins. Others think they were foreign exchange students from various European countries. More and more newspapers had these preposterous ideas. What really happened is up to you. If you go up to apartment 3B, you'll find a happy couple there- Julie and Jonathan- along with Elizabeth, who is doing very well with the change. She will tell you that her step- father graduated from Harvard University. You'd be surprised in what you see. But no amount of heavy cologne, polo shirts, or small rimmed spectacles can hide the fact that he was once- and still is- the hilarious jokester of Great Britain. He's back in his own time now, staying for the trip known as the Mummy Returns to all the modern folk. He'll be back though, here to terrorize the Brits of 2011.

Whatever the story is, my inner mummy senses tell me that this was the best month of my life. What does yours say?


	23. Epilouge

**Authors Note-**

_"Michelle and I aren't twins, but we come pretty close."_

Like Michelle, I am too a daring, curious, determined teenager. Elizabeth Princeton, formally known as Nicole King to me, like in the story, is my best friend. While the two live in England, we're really small-town, true Texan girls. We like doing everything that others do: Reading, texting, watching TV, hanging out... Etc. And yes, the Mummy movies are our all time favorite. The brilliance of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and of course, John Hannah, truly inspired me to write this book. I'd like to devote my thanks for them for being amazing at what they do. Jeanne, aka Anna, is really and dearly in love with the Medjai of Egypt. (Maybe I stretched the degree of obsession just a bit!) Perhaps one day we will truly know what happened that day with Michelle and Elizabeth. But for now, all we have are the certain people chosen to take the mummy experience to the extreme.


End file.
